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GENEEAL WINFIELD SCOTT 

EMBRACING A FULL DESCRIPTION OF THE 

BOMBARDMENT AND CAPTURE 



VERA CRUZ; 

WITH PLANS OF THE CITY AND CASTLE. 
JllustvatetJ bs iForti; JEnfltabiiifls oit 



NEW YORK : 

PUBLISHED BY A. S. BARNES & CO., 51 JOHN-STREET. 

SOLD ALSO BY BURGESS, STRINGER, ifc CO. 

BOSTON: REDDING & CO.-PHILADELPHIA : ZIEBER & CO. 

1847. 



I'lice Twenty-Jice Cents. 




MAP OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 



Enlered, sccordinjio ihc Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by A. S. BARNES &. Co., in the Clerk'a 
0£c« of the District Court of the United States fijr the Southern District of New York. 




ILLUSTRATED LIFE 



GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT. 



SCOTT's parentage. EDUCATION. EARLY CHARACTER. CHOICE 

OF A PROFESSION. ENTRANCE INTO THE ARMY. 

WiNFiELD Scott was born the 13th June, 1786, near Peters- 
burg, in Virginia. His descent may be traced from a Scottish 
gentleman of the Lowlands, who, with his elder brother^ was 
engaged in the Rebellion of 1745. 

The particulars of his early education are not fully known ; 
but it seems that he was intended for one of the learned pro- 
fessions. He pursued the usual preparatory studies, and spent 
a year in the high-school at Richmond, under the teachings of 
Ogilvie, then quite a celebrated man. Thence, he went of his 
own accord to the College of William and Mary, where he 
remained one or two years, and attended a course of law lec- 
tures. He finished his legal studies in the office of David 
Robertson, a Scotsman, who had been sent out originally as a 
tutor in the family of Scott's maternal grandfather. At this 
time his character is described, by one who well knew him, as 
distinctly formed. He was full of hope, and animated by a 
just sense of honor, and a generous ambition of honest fame. 
His heart was open and kind to all the world, warm with affec- 
tion towards his friends, and with no idea that he had, or de- 
served to have, an enemy. 

In the summer of 1807, he volunteered, as member of the 
Petersburg troop of horse, that had been called out under the 
proclamation of the president, forbidding the harbors of the 
United States to British vessels of war. This was in conse- 
quence of the attack on the frigate Chesapeake. 



LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 



In May, 1808, through the influence of his friend and neigh- 
bor, the Hon. Wm. B. Giles, he received from the hands of 
President Jefferson, a commission of Captain of Light Artillery 
in the army of the United States. 




JetTersou ))res«nling Scutt his Commission. 



SCOTT GOES TO THE NIAGARA FRONTIER IN 1812. 

In July, 1812, Scott received the commission of lieutenant- 
colonel in the 2d artillery, (Izard's regiment,) and arrived on 
the Niagara frontier, with the companies of Towson and Bar- 
ker. He took post at Black Rock, to protect the navy-yard 
there established. 



BATTLE OF QUEENSTOWN HEIGHTS. 5 

Lieutenant Elliot of the navy liad jjlanned an enterprise 
against two British armed brigs, then lying at anchor under 
the guns of Fort Erie. For this purpose, he applied on the 
8th of October, 1812, to Colonel Scott, for assistance in officers 
and men. Captain Towson, and a portion of his company, 
were dispatched to the aid of Elliot. The attack was success- 
ful. On the morning of the 9th, both vessels were carried in 
the most gallant manner. The " Adams" was taken by Cap- 
tain Elliot in person, assisted by Lieutenant Isaac Roach ; and 
the " Caledonia" by the gallant Captain Towson. In dropping 
down the Niagara River, the " Adams" became unmanageable, 
through the occurrence of a calm, and drifted into the British 
channel. She got aground on Squaw Island, directly under 
the guns of the enemy's batteries, where it was impossible to 
get her off. Captain Elliot, therefore, having previously se- 
cured the prisoners, abandoned her under a heavy fire from the 
British shore. Then ensued an interesting and exciting scene, 
the British endeavoring to retake the abandoned brig, and Co- 
lonel Scott to prevent them. The enemy sent off boats, and 
Scott resisted them, in which effort he was successful. The 
brig was recaptured, and held until she was subsequently 
burned, by order of General Smythe, who had then arrived. 



BATTLE OF QUEENSTOWN HEIGHTS, 13th OCTOBER, 1812. 

In the beginning of October, 1812, Major-General Stephen 
Van Rensselaer had collected together, at Lewistown, about 
two thousand five hundred of the New York militia. The suc- 
cessful enterprise which resulted in the capture of the " Adams" 
and " Caledonia," on the 8th of that month, had given such an 
apparent ardor and impulse to these troops, that it was be- 
lieved impossible to restrain them. Indeed, the troops declared 
they must act, or go home, an alternative which imposed upon 
the general the necessity of some active movement. Accord- 
ingly he planned an attack on Queenstown Heights. The 












i I" 




BATTLE OF QUEENSTOWN HEIGHTS. 7 

troops which he had at his command were the New York 
militia, and about four hundred and fifty regulars under the 
command of Colonels Fenwick and Chrystie, who, with Major 
Mullaney, had arrived the night before, in detachments, from 
Fort Niagara, for the purpose of joining in this expedition. 

The object of the movement was to dispossess the enemy 
from the fort and village of Queenstown Heights, and thus to 
make a lodgement for the American troops on the Canada shore, 
the invasion of Canada being then the leading object of the 
northern campaign. The plan was, to throw over the river two 
columns of troops, each about three hundred strong ; one to be 
commanded by Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer, and the other 
by Lieutenant-Colonel Chrystie. The detachments of Fenwick 
and Mullaney were to sustain, in the best way they could, 
these columns. These arrangements were made on the 12th 
of October. Late in the evening of that day, Colonel Scott 
had arrived, by a forced march, partly by water, and partly 
through mud and rain, at Schlosser, one mile from the Falls, 
and eight from Lewistown, with the view of joining in the 
contemplated attack. He hastened to Lewistown, and volun- 
teered his services to General Van Rensselaer. They were 
declined, on account of the arrangements already made ; but, 
not without permission that Scott should bring his regiment 
immediately to Lewistown, and there act as circumstances 
might require, or opportunities offer. This permission he at 
once availed himself of, and arrived with his corps, at four 
A. M. on the 13th. Finding no boats, he placed his train in 
battery on the American shore, under the immediate command 
of Captains Towson and Barker, and when daylight appeared, 
opened an effective fire on the enemy. 

In the mean time, the principal movement, as originally 
planned, had gone on. All the boats which could be collected 
were employed to transport the columns of Chrystie and Van 
Rensselaer. Unfortunately the boats were insufficient to take 
the whole number at once, and the passage was made by de- 
tachments. The boat in which Chrystie was, became partially 
disabled, was mismanaged by the pilot, and finally carried 
out of the way by the eddies of the river. He made a gallant 



8 LIFE OP GENERAL SCOTT. 

attempt to land, but was wounded and compelled to return to 
the American shore. In the after part of the engagement, he 
returned with reinforcements to the troops in Canada, and 
shared the fate of the day. 

The main body of the first embarkation, under the direction 
of Colonel Van Rensselaer, was more successful. Two com- 
panies of the 13th regiment, with other small detachments of 
the same regiment, were able to land, and were successively 
reinforced, from time to time, as the few serviceable boats to 
be had could transport them. They were landed under a 
severe fire of the enemy. At this time the numbers of both 
contending parties were small. The British force was com- 
posed of two flank companies of the 49th, and the York militia. 

The Americans did not number much over one hundred 
combatants. Notwithstanding the continued cannonade from 
the enemy's batteries, this small force formed on the bank, 
and marched steadily forward. 

In a few moments, the fire had killed or wounded every 
commissioned officer, and among these, Colonel Van Rensselaer 
himself, who received four severe wounds. Notwithstanding 
this, he sustained himself long enough to impart the local infor- 
mation he possessed to other officers, who had in the mean 
while come up. In leaving the field, his last command was, 
that " all such as could move should immediately mount the 
hill and storm the batteries." This order was promptly obeyed 
by Captain (now General) Wool, who greatly distinguished 
himself, with Captains Ogilvie, Malcolm, and Armstrong, and 
Lieutenant Randolph. These brave officers stormed the heights, 
took a battery composed of an eighteen-pounder and two mor- 
tars, half way up the acclivity, and were soon in possession of 
the highest point, called the "Mountain." At this point of 
time the enemy were beaten, routed, and driven into a strong 
stone building near the water's edge. Here the fugitives were 
rallied and succored by General Brock, the lieutenant-governor 
of Upper Canada, who had returned from the capture of Hull 
to defend the Niagara frontier. Here was his last act of gal- 
lantry. He fell, at the head of the troops he was leading to 
the charge, and with him, his secretary, Colonel McDonald. 



BATTLE OF QUEENSTOWN HEIGHTS, 9 

The British troops were again dispersed, and for a time there 
was a pause in the action of the day. 

Exactly at this period, Lieutenant-Colonel Scott arrived on 
the heights. He had been permitted, as a volunteer, to cross 
the river with his adjutant, Roach, and assume the command 
of the whole body engaged. On the Canada side, he unex- 
pectedly found Brigadier-General William Wadsworth of the 
New York militia, who had crossed without orders. Scott, 
therefore, proposed to limit his command to the regulars. But 
the generous and patriotic Wadsworth would not consent. He 
promptly yielded the command over all the forces to Scott. 
" You, sir," said he, " know best professionally what ought to 
be done. I am here for the honor of my country, and that of 
the New York militia." Scott, therefore, assumed the com- 
mand, and, throughout the movements which ensued. General 
Wadsworth dared every danger in aiding the views of the 
commander. Though they had met for the first time, he had 
become already attached to the young colonel. He repeatedly, 
during the battle, interposed his own person to shield Scott 
from the Indian rifles, which his tall person attracted. 

Reinforcements having arrived during the previous engage- 
ments, the forces under Scott now amounted, in all, to three 
hundred and fifty regulars, and two hundred and fifty volun- 
teers, under the direction of General Wadsworth and Colonel 
Stranahan. These, Scott, assisted by the judgment of Captain 
Totten, drew up in a strong and commanding situation. The 
object in view was not only to receive the enemy, but to cover 
the ferry, in expectation of being reinforced by the whole of 
the militia at Lewistown. 

The interval of rest was but short. The first gun which 
broke the silence of the morning, had also roused the British 
garrison of Fort George, eight miles below. Their troops were 
instantly put in motion. The Indians, who had been concen- 
trated in the neighborhood, sprang into activity. In a short, 
time, five hundred of these forest warriors joined the British 
light companies previously engaged. A new battle ensued. 
The Americans received the enemy with firmness, and drove 
them back in total rout. Colonel Chrystie, who had then 



10 



LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT 



returned to the Canada shore, states, that he there found Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Scott leading and a-nimating his troops, with a 
gallantry which could not be too highly extolled. 

The protection of the ferry being the main purpose, and the 
Indians in the wood presenting no object for a charge, the 
Americans resumed their original position, and there main- 
tained it valiantly against several successive attacks, till the 
British reinforcements arrived from Fort George. In one of 
these affairs, the advanced pickets of the American line were 
suddenly driven in by superior numbers, and a general mas- 
sacre seemed inevitable. At this critical moment, Scott, who 
had been in the rear, showing how to unspike a captured can- 
non, hastily returned, and by great exertions brought his line, 




Scott unspikmg a captured Cannon. 

in the act of giving way, to the right-about. His brilliant 
example produced a sudden revulsion of feeling. They caught 
the spirit of their leader. With a unanimous burst of enthu- 
siasm, the line suddenly rallied from right to left, threw itself 
forward upon the enemy, putting him to a precipitate fliCTht^ 
and strewing the ground with the dead and the wounded. " In 
this manner successive conflicts were kept up, till the main 



A SPEECH ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 11 

body of the British reinforcements arrived. This was a column 
eight hundred and fifty strong, under the command of Major- 
General Sheatfe. 

During the action, which had now so long proceeded with 
credit to the American troops, the militia who had crossed the 
river, and were engaged with Wadsworth and Stranahan, had 
fought well, and shared both the dangers and the successes of 
the day. At this crisis, however, when the result of the battle 
depended entirely upon reinforcements, information was brought 
to Scott and those engaged, that the militia on the American 
shore refused to cross ! General Van Rensselaer rode among 
them, in all directions, urging the men by every consideration 
to pass, but in vain. Not a regiment nor a company could be 
induced to move ! A panic had seized them ; but even had it 
been otherwise, they could not have crossed, as but a few 
crippled boats remained to take them over. Severe was the 
mortification of this disaster to the brave men engaged, and 
mournful the result ! 

At this period, the British force was estimated, regulars, 
militia, and Indians, at not less than thirteen hundred, while 
the Americans were reduced to less than three hundred. Re- 
treat was as hopeless as succor ; for there were no boats on 
the Canada shore, and the militia on the other side refused to 
give them aid. Scott took his position on the ground they then 
occupied, resolved to abide the shock, and think of surrender 
only when battle was impossible. He mounted a log in front 
of his much-diminished band : " The enemy's balls," said he, 
" begin to thin our ranks. His numbers are overwhelming. 
In a moment the shock must come, and there is no retreat. 
We are in the beginning of a national war, Hull's surrender 
is to be redeemed. Let us then die, arms in hand. Our 
country demands the sacrifice. The example will not be 
lost. The blood of the slain will make heroes of the living. 
Those who follow will avenge our fall and their country's 
wrongs. Who dare to stand ?" " All !" was the answer- 
ing cry. 

In the mean while, the British, under the command of Major- 
General Sheaffe, manosuvred with great caution, and even 



iiiilii 



jiiiiii 




FLAG OF TRUCE. 13 

hesitation, conscious of the vigorous resistance already made, 
and determined fully to reconnoitre. They found it difficult 
to believe that so small a body of men was the whole force they 
had to contend with, and supposed it rather an outpost than an 
army. At length the attack began. The Americans for a 
time maintained their resolution, but finally began to give way. 
When nearly surrounded, they let themselves (by holding on 
to limbs and bushes) down the precipice to the river. Resist- 
ance was now ended, and after a brief consultation, it was 
determined to send a flag to the enemy, with a proposition to 
capitulate. Several persons were successively sent, but nei- 
ther answer nor messenger returned ; they were all shot down, 
or captured by the Indians. At length, Scott determined that 
he himself would make another attempt. He prepared a flag 
of truce — a white handkerchief fastened upon his sword — and 
accompanied by Captains Totten and Gibson, went forth, on a 
forlorn hope, to seek a parley. Keeping close to the water's 
edge, and under cover of the precipice as much as possible, 
they descended along the river. They were exposed to a con- 
tinual random fire from the Indians, until they turned up an 
easy slope to gain the road from the village to the heights. 
They had just attained this road, when they were met by two 
Indians, who sprang upon them. It was in vain that Scott 
declared his purpose, and claimed the protection of his flag. 
They attempted to wrench it from his hands, and at the same 
instant Totten and Gibson drew their swords. The Indians 
had just discharged their rifles at the American officers, and 
were on the point of using their knives and hatchets, when a 
British officer, accompanied by some men, rushed forward and 
prevented a further combat. 

The three American officers were conducted into the pres- 
ence of General Sheaffe ; terms of capitulation were agreed 

, and Scott surrendered his whole -force with the honors of 
war. To his intense chagrin and mortification, the number 
of prisoners was soon swelled by several hundreds of mili- 
tia, who had crossed to the Canada shore, and in the confusion 
of the moment, had concealed themselves under the rocks higher 
up the river, and were not in the slightest degree engaged in 



THE " TALL AMERICAN," 15 

the action of the day. Throughout this scene of various action, 
of mistake and misfortune, of success and disaster, Lieutenant- 
Colonel Scott, — says an accurate account, — was distinguished 
for great exertions. He was in full-dress uniform, and his 
tall stature made him a conspicuous mark. He was singled 
out by the Indians, but remained unhurt. He was urged to 
change his dress. " No," said he, smiling, " I will die in my 
robes." At the same moment Captain Lawrence fell by his 
side, as it was supposed, mortally wounded. 



SCOTT ATTACKED BY THE INDIANS. 

After the surrender, the pi'isoners were escorted to the 
village now called Niagara, at the mouth of the river, where 
the officers were lodged in aft inn, aud placed under guard. 
The sentinel had received orders to suffer no prisoner to pass 
out, but not otherwise to restrain their motions. In a little 
while, a message came that some one wished to speak with the 
"tall American." Scott passed through several doors into the 
entry. He was surprised to find in his visiters the same two 
Indians, hideously painted as in battle, who had sprung upon 
him while he was bearing the flag of truce. The elder, tall 
and strong, was the distinguished chief known by the name of 
Captain Jacobs. The other was a young man of fine figure, 
and only inferior in muscular development. In broken English, 
and by gestures, the prisoner was questioned as to his shot- 
marks : the Indians severally holding up their fingers to indi- 
cate the times their rifles had been levelled at him. Jacobs 
grew warm, and seized Scott by the arm to turn him round to 
see his back. Indignant at this manual liberty, the American 
threw the savage from him, exclaiming, " Off", villain ! You 
fired like a squaw !" " We kill you now !" was the angry 
reply, loosening from their girdles at the same instant knives 
and tomahawks. There was no call for help; none could 



16 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT 

have arrived in time ; and flight would have been, in the 
opinion of such soldiers as Scott, dastardly. In a corner of the 
entry, under the staircase, stood the swords of the American 
officers, which, according to the customs of war, they had been 
desired to lay aside on their arrival. A long sabre, in a heavy 
steel scabbard, as readily drawn as grasped, lay on the outside 
of the stack. A spring swiftly to the rear, and another back 
upon the foe, brought the American, with blade hung in air, 
to an attitude of defiance. A second lost — a quiver — or an 
error of the eye, would have ended this story, and left no fur- 
ther room to the biographer of the "tall American." Of one 
of his assailants Scott was absolutely sure ; but that he would 
fall by the hands of the other before the sword could be again 
poised, seemed equally certain. He had the advantage of 
position — standing on the defensive, in a narrow entry, just 
within the foot of the staircase. It was a pass that could not 
be turned. The savages were held without, in the wider 
space, near the front door, but manoeuvring like tigers to close 
upon their prey. The parties were thus terribly grouped, 
when a British officer, entering from the street, and seeing 
what impended, cried, " The guard!" and at the same moment 
seized Jacobs by the arm, and put a pistol to the head of his 
companion. Scott held his blade ready to descend in aid of 
his gallant deliverer, now turned upon by his foes. The 
sentinels obeyed the call they had heard, and came in, with 
bayonets forward. The Indians were marched off*, muttering 
imprecations on all white men, and all the laws of war. The 
younger of these Indian chiefs was the son of the celebrated 
Brant, of the Revolutionary war, whose life has recently been 
given to the public by the late Col. Wm. L. Stone. The 
officer who so opportunely entered, on a visit of courtesy, was 
Captain Coffin, then in the staff* of General Sheaffe, and now 
of high rank in the British army. This adventure he frequent- 
ly narrated, both in New York and on the other side of the 
Atlantic. 

The exasperation of the Indians against Colonel Scott was 
occasioned by the number of their people killed on Queenstown 
Heights J and their excitement was so great, that while he re- 



18 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

mained at Niagara he could not leave his inn, even to dine 
M'ith Sir Roller Sheaffe, without a British escort. 



CAPTURED IRISHMEN. SCOTT S INTERFERENCE IN THEIR BEHALF. 

THEIR JOYFUL INTERVIEW WITH HIM. 

The battle of Queenstown closed with the surrender of Scott 
and his small force to the greatly superior numbers under the 
command of General Sheaffe. These prisoners were sent to 
Quebec, thence in a cartel to Boston, and soon after Scott was 
exchanged. When the prisoners were about to sail from 
Quebec, Scott, being in the cabin of the transport, heard a 
bustle upon deck, and hastened up. There he found a party 
of British officers in the act of mustering the prisoners, and 
separating from the rest such as, by confession or the accent 
of the voice, were judged to be Irishmen. The object was to 
send them, in a frigate then alongside, to England, to be tried 
and executed, for the crime of high treason, they being taken 
in arms against their native allegiance ! Twenty-three had 
been thus set apart when Scott reached the deck, and there 
were at least forty more of the same birth in the detachment. 
They were all in deep affliction, at what they regarded as the 
certain prospect of a shameful death. Many were adopted 
citizens of the United States, and several had left families in 
the land of their adoption. The moment Scott ascertained the 
object of the British officers, acting under the express orders 
of the governor-general. Sir George Provost, he commanded 
his men to answer no more questions, in order that no other se- 
lection should be made by the test of speech. He commanded 
them to remain absolutely silent, and they strictly obeyed. 
This was done, in spite of the threats of the British officers, 
and not another man was separated from his companions. 
Scott was repeatedly commanded to go below, and high alter- 
cations ensued. He addressed the party selected, and explain- 



20 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

ed to them fully the reciprocal obligations of allegiance and 
protection, assuring them, that the United States would not 
fail to avenge their gallant and faithful soldiers ; and finally 
pledged himself, in the most solemn manner, that retaliation, 
and, if necessary, a refusal to give quarter in battle, should 
follow the execution of any one of the party. In the midst 
of this animated harangue he was frequently interrupted by 
the British officers, but, though unarmed, could not be si- 
lenced. 

The Irishmen were put in irons on board the frigate, and 
sent to England. When Scott landed in Boston, he proceeded 
to Washington, and was duly exchanged. He immediately 
related to the president the scene which had occurred at 
Quebec, and was by him instructed to make a full report of 
the whole transaction, in writing, to the secretary of war. This 
was done on the 13th January, 1813. 

As this letter is an important and authentic portion of the 
history of the discussion which subsequently ensued, in regard 
to the rights of naturalizeu citizens under the code of inter- 
national law, we insert it in this place. 

Lieutenant- Colonel Scott to the Secretary of War. 
Sir— 

I think it my duty to lay before the department that, 
on the arrival at Quebec of the American prisoners of war 
surrendered at Queenstown, they were mustered and examined 
by British officers appointed to that duty, and every native-born 
of the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland sequester- 
ed, and sent on board a ship of war then in the harbor. The 
vessel in a few days thereafter sailed for England, with these 
persons on board. Between fifteen and twenty persons were 
thus taken from us, natives of Ireland, several of whom were 
known by their platoon officers to be naturalized citizens of the 
United States, and others to have been long residents within the 
same. One in particular, whose name has escaped me, besides 
having complied with all the conditions of our naturalization 
laws, was represented by his officers to have left a wife and 
five children, all of them born within the state of New York. 



INTERESTING INCIDENTS. 21 

I distinctly understood, as well from the officers who came 
on board the prison-ship for the above purposes, as from others 
with whom I remonstrated on this subject, that it was the de- 
termination of the British government, as expressed through 
Sir George Provost, to punish every man whom it might sub- 
ject to its power, found in arms against the British king con- 
trary to his native allegiance. 

I have the honor to be, sir, 

Your most obedient servant, 
W. Scott, 
Lieut.-Col. U. S. 2d artillery. 

At the instance of Scott, this Report was, the same day, sent 
to both houses of Congress. It was also by him pressed on the 
attention of many members in each house. The result was 
the early passage of the " Act vesting the President of the 
United States with the power of retaliation;" ordered to a 
third reading, Feb. 27th, and passed March 3d, 1813. 

Two months after this, (IMay 27th, 1813,) in the battle and 
capture of Fort George, Scott took a great number of prisoners. 
True to his pledge given at Quebec, he, as adjutant-general, 
(chief of the staff') immediately selected twenty-three of the 
number to be confined in the interior of the United States, there 
to abide the fate of the twenty-three imprisoned and sent to 
England by the British officers. In making the selection, he 
was careful not to include a single Irishman, in order that 
Irishmen might not be sacrificed for Irishmen. This step led, 
on both sides, to the confinement as hostages, of many other 
men and officers, all of whom were, of course, dependent for 
their lives on the fate of the original twenty-three. 

In July, 1815, when peace had been some months concluded, 
and Scott (then a major-general) was passing along on the 
East River side of the city of New York, he was attracted by 
loud cheers and bustle on one of the piers. He approached 
the scene, and great was his delight to find, that it was the 
cheers of his old Irish friends, in whose behalf he had inter- 
fered at Quebec, and who had, that moment, landed in triumph, 
after a confinement of more than. two years in English prisons ! 



22 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

He was quickly recognised by them, hailed as their deliverer, 
and nearly crushed by their warm-hearted embraces ! Twenty- 
one were present, two having died natural deaths. 

Scott had not then recovered from the wounds he had re- 
ceived in the bloody battle of the Niagara, and was about to 
embark on a voyage to Europe. Yet, in conformity with the 
promises of friendship he had made these men, he found time 
to write to the departments at Washington, and solicit for them 
their patents for land bounties, and their long arrearages of 
pay. He was successful, and they were at length restored 
both to their adopted country and their promised rewards. 
Several of these brave sons of Ireland are yet alive, and can 
testify to the truth of this narrative. They, in common with 
hundreds of their countrymen taken prisoners in the same war, 
fighting the battles of liberty, have good reason to believe that 
they owe their liberties, if not their lives, to the solicitations, 
spirit, and zeal, of Winfield Scott ! 



CAPTURE OF FORT GEORGE IN MAY, 1813, AND EVENTS OF THE 

CAMPAIGNS OF THAT YEAR. 

In May, 1813, Colonel Scott joined the army, at Fort 
Niagara, under the command of Major-Gencral Dearborn, in 
the capacity of Adjutant-General, or Chief of the Staff. 

On the British side of the Niagara was a peninsula, of 
which Fort George was the defence. This position General 
Dearborn determined to carry. He was then at the head of 
four or five thousand men, and was co-operated with by Com- 
modore Chauncey and his naval force. Arrangements were 
made for an attack on the morning of the 27th of May. At 
3A.M. the fleet weighed anchor, and before four, the troops 
were all on board the boats. The embarkation was made 
three miles east of our Fort Niagara. It was made in six di- 
visions of boats. In the first was Colonel Scott, who led the 
advanced guard, or forlorn .hope, a service to which he had 



.'i!--- 




24 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

specially volunteered. In the second was Colonel Moses 
Porter, with the field train. Then followed the brigades of 
Generals Boyd, Winder, Chandler, and a reserve under Col. 
A. Macomb. 

In the mean time, Commodore Chauncey had directed his 
schooners to anchor close in shore, so near as to cover the 
landing of the troops, and sweep by their fire the woods and 
plain wherever the enemy might make his appearance. 
Captain Perry, a friend of Scott's, had joined Commodore 
Chauncey, from Erie, on the evening of the 25th, and gal- 
lantly volunteered his services in superintending the debarka^ 
tion of the troops. It was an operation of nicety, in conse- 
quence of the wind, the current, a heavy surf, and the early 
commenced fire of the enemy. He was present wherever he 
could be useful, under showers of musketry. He accompanied 
the advanced guard through the surf, and rendered special 
services, of which General Scott has since spoken in the 
highest terms of commendation. It was the budding forth of 
that professional skill, and that brave and generous conduct, 
which soon bloomed out in the glory which now surrounds the 
name of the hero of Lake Erie. 

Colonel Scott effected his landing, on the British shore of 
Lake Ontario, at nine o'clock in the morning, in good order, 
at half a mile from the village of Newark, now Niagara, and 
the same distance west of the mouth of the river. He formed 
his line on the beach, covered by an irregular bank, which 
served as a partial shield against the enemy's fire. This 
bank, which was from seven to twelve feet in height, he had 
to scale against the bayonets of the foe, who had drawn up 
his force, some fifteen hundred men, immediately on its brow. 
In the first attempt to ascend, the enemy pushed back the as- 
sailants. General Dearborn, who was still in the commo- 
dore's ship, seeing with his glass Scott fall backward upon the 
beach, burst into tears, exclaiming, " He is lost ! He is 
killed !" Scott's fall was, however, momentary. Recovering 
himself, and rallying his men, he reascended the bank, knock- 
ing up the enemy's bayonets, and took a position at the edge 
of a ravine, a little way in advance. A sharp action of abou 



26 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

twenty minutes in length ensued. It was short and desperate, 
ending in the total rout of the enemy at every point. 

Meanwhile, Porter with his artillery, and Boyd with a part 
of his brigade, had landed in the rear of the advance guard, 
and slightly participated in the close of the action. Scott 
pursued the rout as far as the village, where he was joined 
by the 6th regiment of infantry, under the command of Colonel 
James Miller. 

As the column was passing Fort George, in pursuit, Scott 
learned from some prisoners caught running out, that the 
garrison were about to abandon and blow up the place. Two 
companies were instantly dispatched from the head of his 
column to save the work, its guns, and stores. At the dis- 
tance of some eighty paces from the fort, one of its magazines 
exploded. Scott was struck by a piece of timber, thrown 
from his horse, and much hurt. He nevertheless caused the 
gate to be forced, and was the first to enter. With his own 
hand he took down the British flag, then waving over the 
works. Being reminded by his prisoners of the danger he in- 
curred from explosion, he directed Captains Hindman and 
Stockton to snatch away the matches, which had been applied 
by the retreating garrison to two other small magazines. The 
fort had been rendered untenable by the American batteries 
on the opposite shore, and its capture was but the work of a 
few minutes. This accomplished, Scott remounted, and was 
soon at the head of his column, in hot pursuit. This pursuit 
was continued for five miles, until, at length, he was recalled 
by General Boyd in person. He had already disregarded two 
successive orders to the same effect, sent by General Lewis, 
saying to the aids-de-camp who came to him, (one of them 
Lieutenant, now General, Worth, and the other Major Vande- 
▼enter,) " Your General does not know that I have the enemy 
within my power ; in seventy minutes, I shall capture his 
whole force." 

In point of fact, Scott was already in the midst of the 
British stragglers, with their main body full in sight. He 
would not have been overtaken by Boyd, but that he had 
waited fifteen minutes for Colonel Burn, his senior office, who 



28 



LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 



had consented to serve under him. This last colonel haa 
just crossed the river from the Five- Mile Meadow, in the rear 
of the main body of the enemy, with one troop of horse, and 
was then waiting the landing of another now more than half 
way over. This force constituted the precise additional force 
which was wanted by Scott to make good the assurances he 




Porter complaining of Scott's long Legs. 



had sent to General Lewis. With the recall of Scott from 
the pursuit of the enemy ended the battle and capture of Fort 
George. The American loss was less than that of the enemy, 
and one of the objects set forth in the plan of the campaign 
was decidedly accomplished. 

This engagement was not without some incidents, which 
may serve to illustrate both the character of Scott, and the 



STRIKING INCIDENTS. 29 

gallantry of th.3 Aniericun army. Scott, as we have narrated, 
had turned from the head of his column to enter Fort George, 
and seize the British flag. Just behind him was Colonel" Moses 
Porter, of the artillery. On entering the fort, and finding 
Scott there, Porter exclaimed " Confound your long legs, Scott, 
you have got in before me." 

After the capture of Scott, the year before, at Queenstown, 
he was supping with General Sheaffe, and a number of British 
officers, when one of them, a colonel, asked him if he had 
over seen the neighboring Falls. Scott replied, " Yes, from 
the American side." To this the other sarcastically replied, 
" You must have the glory of a successful fight before you 
can view the cataract in all its grandeur," meaning from the 
Canada shore. Scott rejoined, "If it be your intention to in- 
sult me, sir, honor should have prompted you first to return 
me my sword !" General Sheaffe promptly rebuked the British 
colonel, and the matter was dropped. 

At the battle of Fort George, among the earliest prisoners 
taken by the Americans was the same British colonel, badly 
wounded. Scott politely borrowed the prisoner's horse, not 
being able to bring his own in the boats, and gave orders that 
the prisoner should be treated with all possible attention and 
kindness. That evening, after the pursuit, and as often as 
subsequent events permitted, Scott called on the British colonel. 
He returned him the horse, and carefully provided for all his 
wants. Indeed, he obtained permission for him to return to 
England on his parole, at a time when the belligerents had 
begun to refuse such favors, as well as all exchanges. At the 
first of these visits the prisoner delicately remarked, " I have 
long owed you an apology, sir. You have overwhelmed me 
with kindnesses. You can now, at your leisure, view the Falls 
in all their glory." 

It is such acts of magnanimity as these which reflect honor 
on human nature. Were they more frequent, the rough brow 
of war would be smoothed to smiles, and the field of battle be 
as remarkable for the beautiful in character as for the glorious 
in action. 

Colonel Scott and Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey were, in the 



30 1.1F£ OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

campaign of 1813, the adjutant-generals of the opposhig armies 
in Upper Canada. Both being always in front, they very 
generally found themselves pitted against each other in the 
battle-iield. Their staff positions also made them the organs 
of their respective armies, by letters and by personal inter- 
views, under flags of truce. In that official intercourse they 
cordially united to soften down the asperities of war — to pro- 
vide for the general wants of prisoners, to appoint exchanges 
and to obtain paroles, and to the devising of means for enforcing 
the laws of civilized war on the Indian allies of the two armies. 
It was also through them that letters and money passed from 
one army into the hands of the prisoners of the other. Thus 
it happened that sentiments of high respect between the parties 
were soon ripened into personal friendship, leading (for both 
were remarkable in stature) to mutual recognition and salutes, 
when advancing to close combat. If their chivalry wont not 
as far as that of the French officer at the battle of Fontenoi, 
who, standing in front of his troops, exclaimed, " Gentlemen 
of the English guards, give us your fire!" yet there was not 
wanting a touch of the romantic in their meetings. 

Once, when reconnoitring and skirmishing, Scott contrived, 
as he thought, to cut off his daring opponent from the possibility 
of retreat. In an instant, an American rifle was levelled up. 
on him. Scott struck up the deadly weapon, crying — " Hold ! 
he is our prisoner." But Harvey, by a sudden turn and 
desperate leap of his horse, broke through the skirmishers, and 
escaped under a shower of balls, to reappear in the following 
campaign, a formidable opponent of his enemy and friend in 
the fields of Chippewa and Niagara. 

In July of the same year. Col. Scott was promoted to the 
command of a double regiment, (20 companies,) at which 
time he resigned the office of Adjutant-General, as it no longer 
conferred additional rank. In September an expedition was 
proposed against Burlington Heights, at the head of Lake 
Ontario, reported to be the depot of a large quantity of pro- 
visions and other British stores. In this expedition he volun- 
teered to command tlio land troops, and was taken on board the 
fleet by Commodore Chauncev. Burlington Heights were 






'"'M'" 








32 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

visited, but noitlier enemy nor stores were found there. On ■ 
the return, it was determined to make a descent upon York, 
(now Toronto.) Accordingly, a landing of the soldiers and 
marines was effected, under the command of Colonel Scott. 
The barracks and public storehouses were burnt. Large de- 
pots of provisions and clothing were taken, together with eleven 
armed boats, and a considerable quantity of ammunition, and 
several pieces of cannon. 

At the close of this summer a campaign was devised, having 
for its object the capture of Kingston and of Montreal. Scott 
joined the army at Ogdensburgh, on the 6th of November. 
Wilkinson was then just about to pass the heavy fort (Welling- 
ton) opposite, the fire of which Scott had the honor to receive in 
the leading and largest boat of the American flotilla. 

The passage of this fort was one of the striking incidents of 
the late war. It was a clear November night, and at the 
season of the Indian summer. No breeze ruffled the surface 
of the broad St. Lawrence, and when at the hour of eleven the 
moon rose above the horizon, the scene appeared more appro- 
priate for the converse of angel spirits than for the clang of 
arms and the horrors of war. 

At about that hour, the American army, numbering seven 
thousand men, with muffled oars, was slowly descending the 
river, when a gun from Fort Wellington announced tliat their 
purpose was known to the enemy. The whole fort was imme- 
diately lit up by the blaze of artillery, and the huge mortars 
vomited forth their volumes of fire. The balls from the heavy 
cannon passed through the air with impetuous fury, and 
screamed, as if impatient to accomplish their work of death — 
while the shells from the mortars described graceful curves, 
which were easily traced in the air by their burning fuzes. 
The whole army, however, passed the fort without serious loss. 

The following day Scott was appointed to the command of a 
fine battalion, in the corps cVelite, under Colonel Macomb. In 
the descent of the St. Lawrence, he commanded the advance- 
guard of the army ; hence he was not present at the action 
of the 11th of November, at Chrysler's Farm, fifteen miles in 
the rear. 



34 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT, 

At the moment of that battle, Scott, with seven hundred 
men, was engaged with Colonel Dennis and an equal force, 
in passing Hoophole Creek, just above Cornwall. He ef- 
fected the passage under the fire of the British force, routed 
them, captured many prisoners, and pursued the fugitives till 
night. 

Being always in advance, he had the day before landed near 
Fort Matilda, which commanded the narrowest point on the 
whole length of the St. Lawrence. There he had a sharp en- 
counter with the enemy, took an officer and some men prison- 
ers, and gained possession of the fort. 

At commencing the descent of the St. Lawrence, Wilkin- 
son had proclaimed that he came to " conquer," but the 
indecisive action of " Chrysler's Farm," in which a portion 
only of the army was engaged, was the only event connected 
with the general movement of the expedition which looked 
like a resolute determination, or a positive energy, towards 
decisive action. Even in that action the troops were limited, 
by the orders of the commander-in-chief, to defensive opera- 
tions. It was, therefore, attended with no important results. 



FORMATION OF THE CAMP OF INSTRUCTION AT BUFFALO. OPEN- 
ING OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1814. 

The campaign of 1813 closed in disaster and disgrace. 
The hopes of the nation, which had been excited by the bril- 
liant achievements with which it opened, sank to despair, when 
the army, after sustaining a partial defeat, made an abrupt 
and hasty retreat. The military spirit of the army was lost. 
New levies of troops were to be made, and the spirit of daring, 
of confidence, and energy, was to be created before they could 
take the field. 

To accoiiiplish these objects, Colonel Scott passed a part of 
the winter, subsequent to the events on the St. Lawrence, at 



CAMP OF INSTRUCTION AT BUFFALO. 



35 



Albany. There he was engaged in preparing the materiel for 
the next campaign, and, by instructions from the president, in 
arranging high politico-military questions, with the patriotic 
Governor Tompkins. 

On the 9th of March, 1814, Colonel Scott was promoted to 
the rank of Brigadier-General, and immediately joined Major- 
General Brown, then marching with the army from the French 
Mills towards the Niagara frontier. 

On the 24th inst., General Brown set out forSacketts Harbor, 
expressly for the purpose, as he said, of leaving it to Scott to 
establish a camp of instruction, and to prepare the troops, as 
they arrived, for opening the campaign. 




ScuU aistruotrng- the Officers. 



These troops were placed in the camp of instruction at Buf- 
falo, where for more than three months they were drilled in 
all the evolutions and tactics necessary to give them the most 
accurate and thorough discipline. The modern French system 
was adopted. All the officers, without regard to rank, were 



36 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

first rigorously drilled by the commanding general, in small 
squads. These officers then instructed the rank and file in 
squads, under his eye. Companies were next formed, and 
subjected to the same process; then battalions; and, finally, 
these again were instructed by General Scott in person. 
When these details were all learned, the troops were carried 
by him through the evolutions of the line, (the movement of 
armies,) with the same strict attention to science and the wants 
of the field. 

In the camp of instruction at Buflfalo the anny, from con- 
stant drill, acquired its organization, exact discipline, and 
habits of hardihood, and of cheerful obedience. Officers and 
men were taught the proper distribution of duties between 
each other, between the different corps, and the different ser- 
vices. From the formation of a column of attack to the pre- 
sentation of a salute, and from the movement in Echelon to the 
exchange of the minutest courtesies, they learned alike the 
substance and the form of those duties of the camp and the 
field, which are developed in the array and the action of war. 



PASSAGE OF THE NIAGARA. 1814. 

Early in the morning of the 3d of July, Scott's brigade, 
with the artillery corps of Major Hindman, crossed the river, 
and landed below Fort Erie, while Ripley's brigade landed 
above. Scott led the van, crossing in a boat with Colonel 
Camp, who had volunteered his services, and was on shore be- 
fore the enemy's picket fired a gun. Fort Erie soon sur. 
rendered, and preparations were immediately made to advance, 
and attack the army of General Riall at Chippewa. 

On the morning of the 4th, Scott's brigade, several hours 
in advance, moved towards Chippewa. For sixteen miles he 
had a running fight with the Marquis of Tweedale, who com- 
manded the British 100th regiment, till at dusk the latter was 
driven across Chippewa River, and joined the main body of 



-r*^ tjlil l|llf|M|ii|f'/li 




38 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

the British army under General Riall. The Marquis has 
since said, that he could not account for the ardor of the pur- 
suit until he recollected the fact that it was the American 
great anniversary. 

That night, Scott took up a position above Street's Creek, 
two miles from the British camp below Chippewa. The in- 
terval between these creeks was a plain, on which was fought 
the battle of Chippewa. 



BATTLE OF CHIPPEWA. 



The positions of Riall and of Scott on the morning of the 
5th may be easily understood. On the east side was the 
Niagara River, and near it the road to Chippewa. On the 
west was a heavy wood. Between these, running from the 
wood to the river, were two streams, the principal of which 
was the Chippewa. The other was the small creek above, 
called Street's. Behind, and below the Cliippewa, lay the 
army of General Riall, with a heavy battery on one side and 
a blockhouse on the other. Scott's brigade had rested for the 
night on and above Street's Creek. Over these streams the 
road to Chippewa passed on bridges, the one over Street's near 
the Americans, and the other over the Chippewa near the 
British. This was the position of the respective parties on 
the morning of the 5th, when General Brown was expecting 
to attack the British, and they in turn determined to anticipate 
it, by a sortie from the lines of Chippewa. It was a long day 
hi summer ; the earth was dry and dusty, and the sun bright 
and hot, when the best troops of Britain and America met, as 
in tournaments of old, to test their skill, their firmness, and 
their courage, on the banks of the Niagara. 

The day began with the skirmishes of light troops. The 
British militia and Indians occupied the wood on the American 
left, and about noon annoyed the American pickets placed on 
that flank. General Porter, with volunteers, militia, and some 
friendly Indians of the Six Nations, soon engaged them, and, 



^l|iP^»^^:'t.rli-^.:'il.^ 




I*' 
.III 

i 






f 



\il\§fV> ^^ ^iii'liil 



ill':!;' 



40 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

after some skirmishing, drove them through the wood, back 
upon Chippewa. Here the British irregulars, finding that 
their main army under General Riall was advancing, rallied, 
and in turn attacked Porter, compelling his command to give 
way. In spite of his own efforts and personal gallantry, these 
light troops broke and fled, at sight of the formidable array of 
Riall. 

It was now about four o'clock. General Brown was then 
in the wood with Porter ; when a cloud of dust arose towards 
the bridge of Chippewa, and a firing was heard. This ap- 
prized him that the British army was advancing. At this 
very moment. General Scott, in ignorance of the British ad- 
vance, was moving his brigade towards the plain, simply for 
the purpose of drill. Near the bridge over Street's Creek he 
met General Brown, who said — " The enemy is advancing. 
You will have a fight." Beyond this brief remark, Scott re- 
ceived no further orders during the day. General Brown 
passed to the rear, to put Ripley's brigade in motion, and to 
reassemble the light troops behind Street's Creek. It was not 
till he arrived at the bridge, over Street's Creek, two hundred 
yards to the right of his camp of the night before, that Scott 
saw the enemy. The army of Riall had crossed the bridge 
over the Chippewa, and displayed itself on the plain before de- 
scribed. It was composed of the 100th regiment, under Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel the Marquis of Tweedale ; the 1st or Royal 
Scots, under Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon ; a portion of the 8th 
or King's regiment ; a detachment of the Royal Artillery ; a 
detachment of the Royal 19th Light Dragoons; and a portion 
of Canada militia and Indians. The main body of these troops 
'were among the best in the British army. 

This force was supported by a heavy battery of nine pieces, 
within point-blank range of the American troops. Under the 
fire of this battery the corps of Scott passed the bridge in per- 
fect order, but with some loss. His first and second battalions, 
under Majors Leavenworth and M'Neil, after crossing, formed 
a line to the front, which brought them opposed respectively to 
the left and centre of the enemy. The third battalion under 
Major Jesup obliqued in colurrm to the left, and advanced to 



42 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

attack the right of the enemy, which extended into the wood. 
Captain Towson with his artillery was stationed on the right, 
resting in the Chippewa road. 

General Scott soon perceived that, although there were no 
intervals in the British line, yet their right wing outflanked his 
left. To remedy this difficulty caused the movement of Jesup, 
and the interval between the battalions of Leavenworth and 
M'Neil on the plain, was greatly enlarged. These evolutions 
were executed rapidly, and with great precision, under the fire 
of both musketry and artillery. 

The instant that Leavenworth and M'Neil's battalions were 
thrown into oblique positions, both armies rapidly advancing, 
Scott galloped to our battery on the right, and called out to 
Towson — " Captain, more to the left ; the enemy is there !" 
Towson, on foot, and enveloped in smoke, could not see that 
the enemy's line had advanced inside the range of his last dis- 
charge. The gallant Captain — than whom no man in the 
army possessed a greater prowess — instantly changed the di- 
rection of his two remaining guns more to the left, and gave the 
final destructive fire, a second or two before the conflict of 
bayonets on that flank. 

The action soon became general. Major Jesup now in the 
wood, and out of view, engaged, and held in check the enemy's 
right wing. The plain widened on that flank, and the enemy's 
main line continued to advance. Jesup having thus held in 
check one battalion in the wood, the engagement there gave 
the enemy a new right flank upon the plain. General Scott, 
who had continued alternately to advance, halt, and fire, found 
himself not more than eighty paces from the enemy. The 
enemy having a new flank, Scott took advantage of the en- 
larged interval between Leavenworth and M'Ncil, to throw the 
left flank of M'Neil's battalion forward on its right, so that it 
stood obliquely to the enemy's charge and flanking him a little 
on his new right. At this moment Scott called aloud to 
M'Neil's battalion, which had not a recruit in it, — " The 
enemy say, that we are good at long shot, but cannot stand the 
cold iron! I call upon the Eleventh instantly to give the lie 
to tlj;il slander! Charire !" This movement was executed 



K^iL** t* 




44 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

with decisive effect. A corresponding charge was also made 
by Leavenworth, who held an oblique position on our right. 
These charges were sustained by the flank fire of Towson's 
artillery on the right, and quickly put the enemy to rqut. The 
British army broke, and fled in confusion. 

In the mean while, and nearly at the same time, Major 
Jesup, commanding the left flank battalion, finding himself 
pressed in front and flank, ordered his men to " support arms 
and advance." This order was promptly obeyed amidst a 
deadly and destructive fire. Having gained a more secure 
position, he returned upon the enemy so severe a fire as caused 
them to retire. Thus was the whole British line fairly routed, 
in a field action, on an open plain. They fled to their intrench- 
ments beyond the Chippewa, hotly pursued by Scott to the dis- 
tance of half musket-shot of Chippewa Bridge. He took many 
prisoners, leaving the plain behind strewed with the dead and 
wounded of both nations. 

The battle of Chippewa was an exciting and in some degree 
poetic scene. It was fought at the close of a long, bright sum- 
mer's day. On one side rolled the rapids of the deep Niagara, 
on the other was seen the verdure of the northern forest. The 
plain on which the hostile forces met was level and smooth, as 
if prepared for the meeting of the warriors of ancient knight- 
hood. The best troops of England wheeled into it over Chip- 
pewa Bridge, and the regiments of America, cool and disciplined, 
marched to meet them in combat. The sun shone down, and 
brilliant arms flashed in his beams. Each movement of the 
troops was distinct. As the battle deepened, fine bands of 
music mingled their melody, in sudden bursts, with the roar of 
artillery and the moans of the wounded. 

The battle ended, and many were the dead upon that dusty 
plain, whose last groans had expired with the last rays of the 
setting sun. 

Darkness came on, and wearied with battle and thirsty with 
heat, each army retired to its camp. The dead woke not from 
their bloody beds, and the living sank to rest. The wounded 
and his watcher, the sentinel and the stars, alone kept the vigils 
of the night. 



ADVANCE OF THE ARMY. 45 

In the British official account of this battle, the American 
force is represented as numerically superior. The fact was 
the reverse. The British force amounted to about 2100 men, 
and the American to 1900. The total killed and wounded of 
the British troops was 503, and the Americans lost 327. 



AMERICAN ARMY CROSSES THE CHIPPEWA. BATTLE OF NIAG- 
ARA. SCOTT WOUNDED AND DISABLED. 

The army of the north had scarcely rested from its labors at 
Chippewa, when it was called to the still more sanguinary field 
of Niagara. The second day after the battle of the 5th, the 
American troops forced their way over Chippewa River. In 
this, Scott's brigade led, and the enemy retreated before him. 

In the afternoon of the 25th of July, amidst general relaxa- 
tion. General Brown received a note from a colonel of militia, 
whose regiment occupied two or three posts on the American 
side of the Niagara, stating in the most precise terms, that the 
enemy had thrown a thousand men across from Queenstown to 
Lewistown, nine miles below the Chippewa, for some object 
not exactly understood. Brown conjectured that there was an 
intention to capture our magazines at Schlosser, and to inter- 
cept supplies coming down from "Buffalo. In order to recall 
him from this object. Brown immediately determined to threaten 
the forts at the mouth of the Niagara. In less than twenty 
minutes Scott's command was put in motion for that purpose. 
His force consisted of four small battalions, under Colonel 
Brady, and Majors Jesup, Leavenworth, and M'Neil ; Captain 
Towson's artillery, and Captain Harris's detachment of regular 
and volunteer cavalry ; in all amounting to thirteen hundred 
men. There was not time to call in the guards which belonged 
to those corps. 

About two miles from the camp, and just above the Falls, 
Scott discovered a few British officers, mounted, who, as it 
turned out, were in advance to reconnoitre. He soon learned 



46 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

that the enemy was in some little force below, and only inter- 
cepted from the view by a narrow wood. 

In this situation, Scott for a moment reflected on what course 
should be pursued. He was instructed to march rapidly on 
the forts, under positive information, (given as we have narrated 
to General Brown,) that Riall had, three hours before, thrown 
half his force across the Niagara. Reflecting that the whole 
had been beaten on the 5th inst., he lost no time in reconnoi- 
tring, but dashed forward to disperse what he thought was the 
remnant of the British army opposed to him. 

After dispatching Assistant Adjutant-General Jones to Gen- 
eral Brown with the information that the enemy was in front, 
he proceeded to pass the wood, just below Forsythe's House. 
There he was greatly astonished to find, directly in front, 
drawn up in order of battle, on Lundy's Lane, a larger force 
even than that he had encountered at Chippewa twenty days 
before! The position he was in was extremely critical. To 
stand fast was out of the question, being already under a heavy 
fire of the enemy's artillery and musketry. To retreat was 
equally hazardous ; for there is always, in such a case, the 
probability of confusion, and, at this time, the danger of creating 
a panic in the reserve, then supposed to be coming up, and 
which had not been in the previous battle. 

Scott saw that no measure but one of boldness would succeed. 
He therefore determined to maintain the battle against superior 
numbers and position till tl*e reserve came up, thus giving 
General Riall the idea that the whole American army was at 
hand. This would prevent him from profiting by his numeri- 
cal strength to attack our flanks and rear. He would thus 
lose the initial, a matter of no small importance in military 
enterprises. The scheme succeeded. For a long time the 
enemy was kept on the defensive, till the American reserve 
had come up and entered into the action. 

In the mean while Scott had sent back to General Brown, 
Lieutenant Douglass, as well as Major Jones, to report the 
condition of affairs. The first was to report that the remnant 
of Riall's army was manoeuvring to protect the detachment 
thrown over the Niagara ; the second was to inform the gen- 



BATTLE OF NIAGARA. 47 

•ral, that so far from being diminished, the British army was 
actually reinforced, and thus to hasten up the reserve. 

The battle began about forty minutes before sunset, and, like 
its predecessor at Chippewa, was the closing drama of a long 
and warm summer's day. Like that too, it signalized among 
the affairs of men a spot which in the world of nature had been 
rendered illustrious by one of the great and glorious works of 
God. When the battle was about to begin, just as the setting 
sun sent his red beams from the west, they fell upon the spray, 
which continually goes up, like incense, from the deep, dashing 
torrent of Niagara. The bright light was divided into its 
primal hues, and a rainbow rose from the waters, encircling the 
head of the advancing column ! In a more superstitious age, 
such a sign would have been regarded, like the Roman 
auguries, as a precursor of victory. Even now, this bow of 
promise furnished the inspiration of hope, with the colors of 
beauty. 

The line which now opened its fire upon Scott, at the dis- 
tance of one hundred and fifty paces, was already eighteen 
hundred strong. It was well posted in Lundy's Lane, a ridge 
nearly at right angles with the Niagara River, a little below 
the cataract. Its left was on the road parallel to the river, 
with a space covered with brushwood, of some two hundred 
yards, between. Scott observing this interval, soon ordered 
Major Jesup, sustained by Colonel Brady, to take advantage 
of it, and, concealed by the bushes and twilight, to turn the 
enemy's left. The other battalions had been before promptly 
deployed into line, and the action joined by it (Brady on the 
right) and Towson's artillery. The small detachments of 
cavalry on both sides were held in reserve. The enemy, find- 
ing after some time that he outflanked us on the left, threw for- 
ward a battalion to take us in flank and rear. Scott, although 
with inferior numbers, caused this movement to be promptly 
met and repelled by Major M'Neil's battalion, but with great 
loss on both sides. At the same moment, the action in front 
was desperately contested by Brady, now in line, and by 
LeavenwortJi and Towson. Major Jesup had succeeded in his 
movement. He had taken Major-General Riall, and several 



4i 



> iiK 4<r i;KM.u II sro vr 



v>(h(M vidw'OVS. jMls»<n(M;i. !U\il ll(('l\ };!(U;>l\ll\ t'll:U>.;.Ml buck. 

Aud t-ivntnuing Iti.o |sviili\«u in hito. 

h\U» <l>r u»^h(. r\\\h»jlU l>!»l ^i\M\i'. ;\n>i H ««s now u\n«' o\'looK. 
Tlu' onouv.v"s« ii)il\< l\m< born Ih'sWciv book TnMn its n;«nk !»j4S!>nU 
Witl\ ^iv«l Ivvis*. Ui» l(?rt >V«!» U\n\r,i MxA o\>1 ,Mi'. Uis *'<niHv 
«\»\no »vn\«inml tlnn. t( wws jvvi(<'<l «m\ ;\ lul^i'. nwA s\\y\\^ho\\ 
l\v nn\«' iMooiV'j ot' H«liUi>vv. 

*ri»<vo hU(rtlion«« o(' Pnnnn\vM<«l's \vint\>\von»onts \u\d nU 
fiH^^I)* w^^nvtHl. t\\\\\ « t\>urO\ xvrts vxnlv « Irw n\iU's K'hitui. 
JSwv^l^ WAS \\w «»t«h? of thp IWUK >vl\mv M«\ivvr-Ot'n«»rrtl I'un^n 
«kvri\W» « \\\{\<' in «<WttniV v>f ovH' »"t\^r\n?. \W insisw^i vm» 
U«vn»^ «H {\\p jvvrtiov»J»»>8, npfvrM h> hun jnwknjHly by tlm 
^It^t-^v^b^i^J 5t<s\tr-otUvHM>8 mt»n»u\nrMl. o\j>l»intHi »«mI v^M\^^rn^^H^ tv» 
Unn by \\\^ \\[>^ wf {<v^>U. At Uns |Hxu\t. V>vnov«l H(\>« n in hi« 
\\rt\oii«l ivjvn t»kw« \\\> (Ko u«vmUvx». t\\M\v Uuv v»\x n }hm-5^m\«1 
^VjW>fv«tK«u \W wlwt « <x?w i?xt<^ob« iu ovxUiuuauw v^t" lUe 

\^K\ ol' ihip lv\»l«\ bt» ?^ys— " .V|»|»whr«\iin^^ (b«t vhiK'sv v\>r|vs 
Vf^^h? nuK^U «»vl\*v>*U>L «nvl knv*x> n\^ (h«t th<!>y luwl ^v^^KM>^^ 5i?» 
WiM>''» I vH>t<?vn«»v?\l tv> in«x»qsv!ei> ,>* \H»vir lint? with tU«? adv«noit»|t 
t^v^t^vik (M^i thu* vU?«M\^^^ ^»t>t\<ew*l ^\>tt» wni Ih4*( in?* brigade 
in xv^oi^^^vv. OrvUM"* wvifv «vAV*\<i«v^(y ^i\>»n K> Ot(?ni»r«l Ui(»Wr. 
TW <»n*M\^v '?» ^rtilbM-v «t tbii^t nKMm'nt vwu^Mttnl a biU. whioh 
|i«vt» hnn ^r^t »*hI w»?t th<» kvv k> \\vc wMt» 

pvv^kvM,. U «?«» ^ y « Un<> v>t' ui^ntrvv IV !j<LH:*ur* 

tWi? vK>KMfx\ it >«•«* »t«^^v!886«ry K> <?*wy thi* «irtiil<?ry and mw 
tW Wi^tv Thi* vU»tAr Wiiwi *!S!i^<i?v< t\» iV - ■ ^' '■ l\ 

*» M«> ^<\>iKuH»l MtiUtif'i ttstv^iHHHi st«>«Jtl\ -.W tv^ his 

. ^. cv» h^^ W|»^\^rt. »»Hi 

^ <Hv^ny \ii^|>|H(»<mf>es( tK>*n t«>Kvfv> tMUx * * * * 'fH^ t^viHuy 

<k>or\v*<*<im«^ »K*>«i *tt<^w><\>vl Kx vlnw viijt tVvH« vHir ^NH«tk>tt iwMJ 

v<;*«t stnl tKf t'm'^ny 
• ?«ttH» o^»xvt. h«»J 



hat'/j.k ok niaoaka, 4'J 

flic Hiitr»«i JssiK-!. (Jcncral iSc/lt, wii« aj/uiri f;ngagr;d in rep* llifij^ 
lli<; ioiiinr of th<'s<i ; and (lj<; last I saw of Ii/mi on tli<; /i< l<J of 
l/al(l(;, \^l^ was n<;ar llni li'-ad of Ilia column, and f/ivinp^ lo its 
inarch a dir<'<;(ion llial would fiave placud him on iUti liixtiiiy'a 
right, *♦*♦*♦* J J.tving hft«n f<jr some time wounded, and be- 
iiif/ a good deal <!Aliausl<;d hy loss of IiKkxI, it became my wish 
l'( diivolve flic command on (Jcncral Scof^t, and rctin; from the 
held, huf, on iiHjuiry, J had llie mislortunc U> learn that he was 
(ii«ahl<'<l hy wounds ; 1 thcn^forc kcj;t my post, and had the 
satisfaction to see tlie pnerny's last effort rcpulfied." 

'J'hc crisis of this <^ngag<;mcnt was tli<; moment when th** 
enemy's hatf,(!ry, which from ifs posifion commanded the field 
of action, was stormed hy Miller's regiment. 'i'his <;harge 
was <ine of the liiiest acliicv<'ments of the American army. 
(*en«;ral JJrown tsiiid lo the gallant Miller — **8ir, can yoii 
tuKc that battery?" *' 1 w/),r, TUV," was the reply r>f the 
bind' Hol(lie,r --a phrase now become familiar to all Ameri<;an 
\i\in. JScotf, who was perfectly »c»|uainted with tlir ground, 
conihictid Miller, in the darltnehs of the night, some distance, 
fill he had the right dir(«<;lioii. Jle th' n reliirned to r<;- 
(lew the attack in fioiit, ill order fo favor fhe ni(jvcment of 
Miller. 

'J'hc enemy's biiftcry being taken, an<i flic ridge previously 
o«;eupied by fhe enemy being gained, the American army 
changed position. It wau now drawn up nearly at right angles 
to the lane, with its back to the river. Hcott was on the right, 
Itijilcy ill the <!cntrc, and I'orfer, willi the militia, on the left. 
Ill this new positir)ii, the American line generally acli'il on 
flie defe,iisiv(\ 'I"h<! J{rilisli di-sircd f^i recover the ground 
liiey had lost, and made several iittHaults. 'J'hcse were as 
olleii repulsed, but ibe cncjriy would ag.iin rally and return to 
file <;liaig('. 

If was in one of these contests (General Hrown had last 
seen Hcott. About that time, the latter had twice formed 
small portions of hiu brigade into column, advanced, <diarged 
the Hritish line, also a<lvan<Mng, pierced if, and <;om|)(dled it to 
fall back. In such a baffle, with siieli impetuous coiiragi;, 
(Scott was necessarily exposed to nil the dangers of the li«dd. 

4 



Mia 



i 

m 

mi 



m§ V' ;■• ,, 




BATTLE OF NIAGARA. - 51 

Two horsos were killed under him. In the midst of the 
action, he was wounded in the side. At eleven o'clock in the 
night, he was disabled by a wound from a musket-ball through 
the left shoulder. His aid, Lieutenant Worth, and his brigade- 
major, Smith, were also both severely wounded. 

The contest closed by the possession of the field of battle 
by the Americans, and the capture of the enemy's cannon. 

The world has seen mightier armies moved over more me- 
morable fields, and followed by louder notes of the far-resound- 
ing trumpet of fame ; but a bloodier scene for those engaged, 
a severer trial of courage and of discipline, or one whose 
action was more closely associated with the sublime and beau- 
tiful in nature, the world has not seen. The armies were 
drawn out near the shores of that rapid river whose current 
mingles lake with lake. Hard by, was that cataract whose 
world of waters rushes over the precipice, and, rushing, roars 
into the gulf below ! The ceaseless spray rises up, like in- 
cense to the eternal Father ! The beams of sun, and moon, 
and stars, fall ceaselessly on that spray, and are sent back in 
many-colored hues to the source of light ! So was it when, 
wheeling into the field of battle, the slant beams of the setting 
sun, returning from the spray, encircled the advancing column 
with rainbow colors ! The sun went down, to many an eye, 
no more to rise on earth ! 

With the darkness came the greater rage of battle — charge 
after charge was made. For a time the faint beams of the 
moon struggled with the smoke, and gave a little light to the 
combatants ; but it was but little. The moon itself became 
obscured, and no light, save the rapid flashes of musket and 
cannon, pierced the heavy clouds. 

The fight raged in the darkness of the night. From the 
height on the ridge, the battery of the enemy still poured its 
deadly fire. 

It was then that the gallant Miller said, " I will try." It 
was then that Scott piloted his column through darkness to 
Lundy's Lane. It was then that brave regiment charged to 
the cannon's mouth. The battery was taken. The victory 
rests with the American army. 



aV I.IFR «^F OEM'.UAl. SiiVl'T. 

It was n\i(lm:;lil. Tlio l>!itllt' is «M»ilt>(l. 'riicanuv, I'liiit 
!uul uciuv. drills ilsi'lt iVoin tlir Mooily jihuu. The urll smU 
lo llicir fiuu h lit lire am .if homes t,ir a\\a\ ! Thi' \\i>mulcil 
>;[iMan 111 llu'ii- [lauilul l\i>s[iitals. 'Tlic ilrail r(-sl lill llic lasl 
liiim|>i't shall summon ihcm li' llic lasl ana\ ! The warrior, 
witli liis oiunirnts niUcd \\\ hKiod, lias h-l'l llu^ sot>iu< ot" stru?; 
gltvs, pains, mul iloiUh ! Soiui> Kiiul iVit'iul luuy luwc souj^ht 
liiiii, wliolluM' alive or tloail ; hul llio war ilruiu hail otM\s(Ml to 
h(>al ; the arliUerv «-t<asoil lo roll ; aiul now the soliMiui, sono- 
rous tall ot' !\iai;ara is to the ilcail llu-ir rciiuicni, ami lo the 
living thoir sonj; of i;lory ! 

'l'lu< htittltMif Nia^aru has hoiMi, hv iiustalvt> or ai-oiilcnt, 
oonnuonly I'tilleil in Iho llnittul St«t<'s, llu^ hattlo ot" l>riilg<>- 
watcr. In tlio olVuitil rojuirt ol" \\w Hrilish j;iMU'ral it was 
oalloil llio halllc ol' l,uiul\"s l.auo. ll has lu-cn iisa;;i", how - 
tner, to I'all a hatllo, or othor ini|H>rtant event, tVoiu the most 
rtMuarkahle i>l>iei't i\t>ar the setMH^ of m-tioji. l'\nighl, as this 
battle was, near that niij^hty catarael w hii'h makes one ol" the 
wonvlers ot" nature, i>ii (>ith(M' si(li> ol' the Atlantic ; t"on<;ht too 
with a i'ouraj;e iiiul a eousIaiUN woillw ol sueh an assoi'in- 
tion, why shonhl il uol be naiiuil rnun thost> loud, soundiiiij; 
waters? Let il then hi> ealled, Tnr. M.vrri.K ok Nia(;ak.v. 
I, el till- memorv o( llie dead, and ihe I'lnu^ ol" the livin<;, roll 
on Willi lhost> waters to the distaiil tulure! 

The Auu-riean loss was S('>1) ; that o( the Krilish STv'^. 



soorr s .un'UNKV viu^:*! macaka ro run amki.vuia. is kk- 
eiivip Ar iM;i\ei:rt>N. 

\\v. Inst saw Seott on the fudd ol" Niaj^ara. lie was honu* 
fi\>ni that set>no ol" glory, to tlu> rare of niirs(>s and suri;(>t>ns, 
a wouiidi-d and sutU'rinfj siddier. He had heen woiuuJtHl, as 
wt' have nnrrattul, fust by a s|u>nt hall, in tlu" sidt>, anil nt^xt 
hv a n\nskel-hall vvhieh passed dircutly throngh llu> lell 
shonhler. 'rht> last was a wound in its nature serious and 



54 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

painful. His recovery was, for a month, very doubtful. lie 
lay, in great agony, at Buffiilo and Williamsville. He was 
then removed to the house of his kind friend, Mr. Brisbane, 
in Batavia, and as soon as his health was sufficiently restored, 
he departed by easy journeys for Philadelphia, for the purpose 
of placing himself under the care of those distinguished 
surgeons, Drs. Physick and Cliapman. 

At the classic and memorable ground of Princeton, an in- 
cident occurred, alike adapted to cheer the heart of the dis- 
abled soldier, and give propriety and freshness to his reception 
on the si)ot, where the nmse of history has not disdained to 
dwell in the humble abodes of philosophy. 

The annual commencement at the College of New Jersey 
(Nassau Hall) happened to occur on the day Scott reached 
Princeton. Upon quitting the carriage, he was supported 
to a bed, intending, by easy stages, to reach Philadelphia 
that night. It was soon whispered about, that General 
Scott had entered the town. The faculty of the college 
immediately sent a deputation to the hotel to invite his at- 
tendance at the church. He suffered himself to be carried 
thither. Pale and meager, his left shoulder swollen and 
bandaged, his arm in a sling, and his furred surtout flung 
over his person, the invalid with difficulty ascended the stage 
where the exercises were performed. 

There, the president, trustees, and other dignitaries of the 
college, were waiting his slow approach, amidst learning, 
beauty, and fashion, collected from far and near. The hands 
and kerchiefs of the ladies, as well as the voices of men, in- 
cluding hundreds of enthusiastic students, were in constant 
exercise. The rafters of the old edifice rang and re-echoed 
with applause. 

In Nassau Hall, it is customary to select the most graceful 
and elegant speaker to deliver the valedictory address. On 
this day, the orator was Bloomfield M'llvaine, Esq. His 
theme was, " The public duties of a good citizen in peace and 
war" — a subject well adapted to the then situation of the 
country, and not improper at any time. Towards the close 
of his oration, the speaker turned to Scott, and in the most 



56 J6IFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

graceful and extemporaneous oratory, made him the personifi- 
cation of the civic and heroic virtues. Nothing could have 
been more happily adapted to the person and the subject. 
The sympathies of the audience burst forth in applause, alike 
to the young and disabled general who was personified, and to 
the eloquent and enthusiastic student whose ready genius had 
paid so just and beautiful a tribute. 



PUBLIC HONORS PAID TO GENERAL SCOTT. 

The war of 1812 being now ended, and Scott having passed 
from the battle-field to the domestic fireside, it is fit we should 
here review some of the promotions, compliments, and honors, 
which his country and countrymen, at various times, bestowed 
upon him, for his gallant and successful conduct. 

Scott entered the army in 1808, at twenty-two years of age. 
In 1814, when only twenty-eight, he had ascended to the high- 
est military rank, that of major-general, which is attainable 
in the United States. In a very short time also, he was dis- 
tinguished by honors and memorials, from various civil bodies 
and public authorities, such as have been seldom conferred 
upon one person, and upon one so young — perhaps never. 

The testimonials of legislative bodies, and of men engaged in 
civil and peaceful duties, to the merit and services of Scott, 
were not less strong than those which emanated from the ex- 
ecutive and the military functionaries. 

Near the close of the war, Congress passed a vctc of thanks, 
in which Scott was not only specifically complimented for his 
skill and gallantry, in the conflicts of Chippewa and Niagara, 
but for his uniform good conduct throughout the war — a compli- 
inent paid by Congress to no other officer. 

Resolution of Congress — approved Nov. 3d, 1814. 

" Resolved, that the President of the United States be re- 
quested to cause a gold medal to be struck, with suitable eni- 



ftH 



i.iriii «•!>■ tjiijNicuAi. Ncorr. 



tiloiii.'i lUiil (Irvicn.-i, iiiitl |>ri<HMiiloil (n Miijoi' ( intii'i'iil S(<iill, In 
lonlliutiiiy 111 iho lii^li HciUiH kiiIi'I'IiiIIIimI l>y ( 'iiiijjii'rirt nl'liiri tlir* 
lillf>uihlii<il Mnt'vi(tMH, ill ihti riiii'in'M.-tivK ihiiIIii'In ul' ( 'Iii|i|ii<\\ n iiinl 
Nilt^iii'M, iiikI til' lii-i nnirui'iu hhIImiiIi'v iiinl ^'iinii I'liiiilinl iii 
HIINlnlllHi;.', lllp irpuliilloil .il lli<< itllii'i ol'lho tllllli'il I'-llali :i " 

'riit< iiiinliil lliilri (Uiliurtl liy ( 'iiii^M'OMri, WIIM liliniriiltil jiy 
I*r<ij4l(l(i|il Mdiiiiiu, MtHi(>iu|iiiiiitMl iiy llto liilliiwiii^, itddi'inoi. 

I'ImiiiuIIVK IMillinliill, l''i>li|lliil V 'Mi, \H'il> , > 

ill lIlK |l|l>UI>llt<0 <>l lllO < 'lllllllKl, lllhl ol ' 
IlllUiy nllllM' lIlHllllglllHlllMl |IOI'H(IIIH. \ 

Vi'tniihiil l\ft>iii'tw's Aitilirss. 

'•(•tuiornl MdnK Vnm riniiliit I in llu> lulu wiir niKrili'il itiitl 
oKltiiniMl, in II liit'li ili'^'ii'c, llic ii|i|iiiilialiiin III" ('iiii^^itmm niiii 
Voiii loiniliN In llii< liallii'i >>l ( 'litp|>i'\\ n mid Niiimhiii, ni 
(l|i|iiii ( 'lUiiidii, III lliit rinii|iiii^>ii III' r:||, Noiii diiiini' Knlri- 
pi'iwit and ^•iillnnliN in iitiinn wrin rimnriilis ('i>n'<|in nmi.M. 

" III riMidmin^' jii.sllon In ynii, I H'oiii' willi |ili'ii-inri' In llin 
r«|uii( niiido nf iIiuho itiMioiiM liy llin inililin'v I'liininiindri , llir 
IIIOnI «nini|irlriil |Md>'i' nl' yi'in iin'iil. In llir IimI||<< hI' ( 'lii|i|ii< 
WU, lio Tiny.i, \iill ilIK illllllrd In IIip ln^'lir:il |iliilin vniii rnini 
try ran liOHtnW ; and llial w r air indrlili'd In \iin, nion^ lluiii In 
luiv nllinr |itnmin, liir llio virlmy iililanind in il. 

" In lli(« jtiillln III' Niiif.>,iu'it yon i-ninniniicrd liir luiinii, and 
your jj;iilli»nlry in Novnriil siiv«»rn I'lKMHinlorM, iiiilil (liMaMcd li\ 
NiiviU'n Wiiiniils, WiiN ni|iiallv di.NlinjMliMJitid. ,\m u livliuininal 
111' till' liij^li Mon.-iii I'liliM lanii'd liv ( 'nngr«»WN dl" ymir nuiii ni 
lIliiHO mitiuns, I liii\p llin |iira^aiip In |iir;.i>nt vnii linn nmdal." 

'riin inoditl 1-1 a liranlirn! .■i|ii<riini'ii nl' llir nnini.iualir ni'l. 
Il iM 1111^1' and nl' ma.'.riivti jidltl. 'I'lir di in\ in;..', mIhiw -i Imlli lannN 
(>( (lio intMlul iind its n\ini| dininiiHinnN. Tiin |ini'tt'ail ni lln- 
gi>niniil, in rtiliovn, in trim In iitn. Tim inMin'i|itiiin mi ilir ir 
vormi tin^n, UH .slinvvn in llii< dnnviii^, in Nnriniiiidid w iili a 
wi'tiutli of |>uliu and laiiiri. nilwinnd nlmnl a 'iiM|ii iil liniuid 
inin i( (tirt'lo—tMnlili'in ni' MHilli and miinnitalil\ . m- \nni|| 
«nn\\ iiimI willi viclmv II i.-i u iduniNlicd nii'innrial n! iiiiliniial 
^lultlndr. 

'rilt'lt' i.N an niiidi-nl rniini'clrd Willi lliu, ni.dal w linli up 



r,Hiiht)il. forhiinr \n rt'.\if.\t',. \\, i« tvA nu iUtnt of {//int^rnl bis^-'yry, 

Ii j)Jij4rtr«t(/'/« n f/Timi \tr\n^\\>Ui of imiimn tuAu/tt. It Uuii- 
t,».U'M h'yw <j<xrj/)y Uh'. U'A'Xmii, *>f r"-vt;nciii'yi', for <iii>iUi'/iui^\if4 
uu<i i>h\liniii tt^'j'vU-^',^ tiinka UtU) i\n', Ut-nri, tiiA h^w \iiift', lj)i;i 
ftM\Uni^ limy it'jimUi w\tt-ii 'AU'W lui'i kni<irt'/'i vj;lij';s Unvf, 
■/i"\<U'A Sf) U',m\Aid\oii . 

'V\iU iin'/hl wn» tU\fm'lU'Ai hy (iithfjul ^I'/Ai, inuny y-Mia 
iiintA', Un' mdU U'^i^/ih^, in iUa ('hy HmiU of N",w Vv/k. Hoimt 
iH/»«^ itfitfr, i\io, imiik wiiM t'.iiUjf'A \ty fn^liiti ktiya, niA r<Mn'A of 
\tu\\\<iu un>\ 'Ah-.r fi^inU\/>i\ii', Wiyi', iKinonni of i'H') Unut\i<A tu)<i 
iifly iUoiimtii'i flf/llnra. 

'I'itt-, fnat tiUifU, oil tMiU'nn^ iim ihy nfUtr tho roiAt*iry, tVi*- 
i-/t\t'.ii'A IJiut t)j<i a-ift', \ii>A \>i',t',n foi't;t^A, «o'J »<>'>/» it.tni4iii.iuiitA iIk- 
t'.xU'.ni of i\it: !'/»«, O// t'KiuinuHiy^ Um; l/'u/ik hi whj/Ji Um; 
loi'AiA was <l'')>'/j?ii<;'j, l/<! foiniii, Ut lijs anr^ir'iiHi and <J<;JJg)<t, Oml 
fjj'i uuAii.\ wiw fjiAf'j, tlj/zuglj <;V';;'y tioWnr of iUt*. huW'ion i\i'.\fM'ii- 
fA will) jt JMMJ (>';<;n yi).\it'U. 'J'h<{ insdU-;r wna j(j';xp)i';fil>l<i t/^ 
fli'; oiYit'AU'iiof iif, l/m/ik, 'i'h'i /'yM**'/" I*j*/J bu/St o|;<;» ll*ij tnj/ik, 
ftl/ij/j/';'! il of iiii v«)ijiil>l<} I'/iiiU'iiia, o|>';/i';'l th<; <;««<* whic'Jj <;». 
<;)'/»<;'! i,lit', iiit'AiA, i).n<l yi'i \t>,f\ ihut huytt \fUu}t> of nnyau'isii (loUi 
\ fill I III. So inoiivt', r/mUl !><• <ji!*<;'>v<j/<;<l for aWiU nii iwA. 'i')*'- 
/■'yl>l><;r wmy /inully nrrt-aUA, tUn Cun^Jw t'tw/jViu'iA, iui'l ikc law 
!ia(Ji!>(M',«J l>y a full Utnn of m'rs'wM \ii ih'; j>laf<; j>/'i«';>j. 

At a t5ii)/!*<''jii<;«ii \io,noi\, III (>a«»<»)g 'i'ywji ih«i WiAatni Itjv*-;-, 
Of) I;'ya/'<1 a »iU'Min\>oii,y, ^'tt'tmrni K'/zlt'ti jyij/'.v'. w«i« uimtrtu-.U^A 
ixiiii ilia j;<><;k<;t, 'J"|j(5 fmi )/ii/)j/ Nia/I*; known i/> iiit-, f.ini.f of 
t)/< ii'iiii'yi',, tli'^ inoiiiy wa» »<>';;) 'lis'j'yv^r'j'j a/<<i /('Mo/';'], il 
was lUiriif/^ 1))<'! j/;<>f;/ < fjii of Odii i»)v< «1)f/afio;( that iii'i \)iiip>inr 
who Idvl rohl>';'l tJci City I'i/i/k )'')//'o(/';))'?<l })i-i t','/nf<A<:rnU',n 
will) l|)<}i/' wa/)t onjo))o/'al;)<; h< iuiuii:, lie, «ai<j, *M)jar wlvn Im- 
lo<^k «)mj inouf.y from l|j<i C'ity I'ank 1)<; «aw a/i') w<;|) k/i'^w f))«i 
va)ii<5 of lj)i; Mi<;'la), hdi i^;oni<A fo fak'; f/o»n lIc! sy>)<Ji';/' whal 
Ii.kI I;<<;/) j^iv<«/) \>y !,))<; graf,ili/<l<; of )()'« coi/nlry." 

'I'liis i/Mii'lcnt JK a cunotitt ^Mtinniit'.non in Uo oj>';;at/o»i« of 
s\\c }M/f»)an ininA. A /nan wlio iohiU: thrfl an'l r<^l>h< ry hit 
\ivof''tmion, aii'l f<t)t n'> t;<nn\)Hut;\i>inH in n»ii'/jni/^ Ui'; p/op'riy of 
oilMff!*, p5roj>'''J his way with a 'lark Ja/)i','r»), tii/ou^jj vnui'.ii 



60 



LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT, 



;ind narrow passes, until at length he reached the object of 
his hopes. He broke the locks, and by his dim light discovered 
bags of gold. He seized them with avidity. In his search he 
discovered the medal of a patriot soldier. One current of 
virtuous feeling had not been corrupted. He replaced the treas- 
ure, and rejoiced that he yet loved his country and honored 
her defenders. 




1 cannot take that Medn 



In February, 1816, both houses of the Virginia legislature 
passed unanimously a vote of thanks to General Scott, for his 
uniform good conduct in the war. At the same time the sov- 
ernor was directed to procure a suitable sword, with proper 
emblems and devices, and have the same presented to him as 
a memorial of their high estimation of his conduct. 



Resolutions of the Virginia Legislature. 

" Resolved unanimously, by the Senate and House of Dele- 
tes of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in general assembly 



PUBLIC HONORS PAID TO GENERAL SCOTT. 61 

convened, that the governor be, and he is liereby requested, to 
present the thanks of this general assembly to Major-General 
WiNFiELD Scott, a native citizen of this state, for his uniform 
good conduct in sustaining the military reputation of the United 
States, in every conflict or engagement in which he was pres- 
ent during the late war with England, but more especially in 
the successive engagements of Chippewa and^Niagara. 

" Resolved, also unanimously, that the governor be, and he is 
hereby requested, to cause a suitable sword, with proper em- 
blems and devices thereon, to be presented to Major-General 
ScoTT, as a mark of the high opinion this assembly entertains 
of his gallantry and distinguished services, in the battles of 
Chippewa and Niagara. 

" Resolved, also unanimously, that the governor be, and he is 
hereby requested, to forward to Major-General Scott a copy 
of these resolutions, and to present, through him, the thanks 
of this assembly to his gallant associates in arms, during the 
campaign of 1814. 

"Unanimously agreed to in both houses, 
February 12, 1816. 

Wm. Mumford, C. H. D." 

About the same time with the passage of the resolutions we 
have recited, by the State of Virginia, others were passed of 
similar import, by the Legislature of the State of New York, 
along whose western frontier a large portion of Scott's public 
services had been rendered. The legislature empowered his 
Excellency Daniel D. Tompkins, then governor of that state, to 
present General Scott its thanks for his services, and a sword, 
which was done. The presentation took place on what is 
called in New York Evacuation Day. The following account 
of the proceedings has a more than common interest, by the 
peculiar aptness of the addresses made. 



62 ' LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

In the City Hall of New York ; Anniversary, Nov. ) 
25th, 181C, of tlie Evacuation of the City by the / 
British troops, at the end of tlie Revolutionary War. ) 

Governor Tompkins'' s Address to Major -General Scott. 

" Sir— 

I avail .myself of an anniversary commemorative of 
the exploits of our forefathers, to perform the pleasing duty of 
proclaiming the gratitude of the people of this state to those 
descendants of the heroes of the Revolution, whose services in 
the late war have contributed so mainly to perpetuate the in- 
dependence which our venerated ancestors achieved, and to 
advance the glory of the American nation. 

" In adverting, sir, to your claims of distinction, it would be 
sufficient to say, that on all occasions you have displayed the 
highest military accomplishments, the most ardent attachment 
to the rights and honor of your country, and the most intrepid 
exertions in their support. A rapid and unprecedented suc- 
cession of promotions at an early age, has been the well- 
earned fruit of your talents. The distinguished notice by 
your government is the best encomium on your character, 
and the highest reward to which the virtuous and the great 
aspire. 

" But, sir, your military career is replete with splendid 
events. Without descending into too much minuteness, I may 
briefly refer to your exploits in the most interesting portion of 
the American continent. The shores of Niagara, from Erie 
to Ontario, are inscribed with your name, and with the names 
of your brave companions. The defeat of the enemy at Fort 
George will not be forgotten. The memorable conflict on the 
plains of Chippewa, and the appalling night-battle on the 
Heights of Niagara, are events which have added new celebrity 
to the spots where they happened, heightening the majesty of 
the stupendous cataract, by combining with its natural, all the 
force of the moral sublime. The admirers of the great in 
nature, from all quarters of the globe, will forever visit the 
theatre of your achievements. They will bear to their distant 
homes the idea of this mighty display of nature, and will as- 



SCOTT VISITS EUROPE, 63 

sociate with it the deeds of you and your brothers in arms. 
And so long as the beautiful and sublime shall be objects of 
admiration among men ; so long as the whelming waters of 
Erie shall be tumbled into the awful depths of Niagara, so 
long shall the splendid actions in which you have had so con- 
spicuous a share, endure in the memory of man. 

" Accept, sii', the sword presented to you by the people of 
this state, as a pledge of their affection and gratitude for your 
distinguished services; and may the remainder of your life be 
as serene and happy, as your early days have been useful and 
srlorious." 



GENERAL SCOTT VISITS EUROPE. 

Soon after the close of the war. General Scott visited Europe 
by order of the government, both for the restoration of his health, 
and professional improvement. He was confidentially intrusted 
with diplomatic functions, to ascertain the temper and views 
of certain courts, respecting revolutionary struggles then com- 
menced in the Spanish provinces of America, and the appre- 
hended designs of Great Britain upon the Island of Cuba, — both 
at that time subjects of no little solicitude to the cabinet at 
Washington. 

On his return to the United States he was assigned to the 
command of the seaboard. His head-quarters were in the 
City of New York. In that city, and near it, at Elizabethtown, 
New Jersey, and in the same command, with the exception of 
two years at the west, he resided during the next twenty years. 
In March, 1817, he was married to Miss Maria Mayo, of Rich- 
mond, Virginia. They have several daughters, but no living 
son. 

After the return of General Scott from Europe, little oc- 
curred in his life beyond the ordinary duties of the command- 
ing general of division, until the Black-Hawk campaign of 
1«3?. 



64 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

BLACK-HAWK WAR. INCIDENTS AND SCENES CONNECTED WITH IT- 

The North American Indians, if not possessed of strong 
local attachments, have ever manifested a warm and almost 
sacred regard for the graves of their ancestors. When passing 
by, they strew handfuls of earth upon them. They part from 
these tombs with bitter regret, when necessity makes them 
wanderers from their native land ; and when generations have 
passed away, even remote descendants return to revisit and honor 
the spot where their dead have been laid. 

The principal village of the Sacs and Foxes, for a long pe- 
riod of time, was on the beautiful river peninsula between 
Rock River and the Mississippi, and near their junction. 
Here, in the midst of a wilderness of beauty seldom equalled, 
on a soil so rich that the Indian women found little difficulty in 
planting and gathering their corn, a band of the Sacs resided, 
as late as 1830. Their chief, known as Black-Hawk, had 
been born on that ground. Annually they had planted their 
corn. They loved the rolling waters of Rock River. They 
loved the lovely island near its mouth ; and they loved, as the 
white man loves, scenes where, from youth to age, they had 
beheld the splendors of nature ; and they loved that ancient vil- 
lage spot which by repeated burials had become the mournful 
graveyard of the nation. 

By a treaty made with the chiefs of the Sacs, these lands 
east of the Mississippi were ceded to the whites; but it was 
also provided, that so long as they belonged to the United 
States, the Indians should have the privilege of living and hunt- 
ing upon them. The United States also guarantied the Indians 
against any intrusion of the white settlers. Trespasses, how- 
ever, did occur, by whites, in violation of the laws of Congress, 
and these acts, unrestrained by the United States government, 
were the exciting causes of the jealousy, irritation, and ulti- 
mate hostility of the Indians. In 1829, the United States put 
up to public sale, and it was sold, a portion of the Sac village, 
which was bought by an Indian trader. Black-Hawk, the Sac 
chief, became irritated, but was advised, that if the Indians 
had not sold the lands, and would remain quiet, they would be 



BLACK-HAWK WAR. . 65 

undisturbed. On the idea that the Indians had not sold their 
village, he determined to remain. 

In the spring of 1831 the Indian squaws had planted their 
corn as usual, when it was ploughed up by the whites, and the 
trespasses against the Indians continued. Black-Hawk then gave 
notice to the whites, that they must I'emove from his village. - 
On the 19th of May, 1831, a memorial was presented to the 
governor of Illinois, by eight of the settlers, representing that 
the Indians had threatened them,, and were committing de- 
predations on the whites. On the 26th of May, the governor 
of Illinois writes, that he had called out seven hundred mili- 
tia to remove a band of Sac Indians. On the 28th of May, he 
writes the same to General Gaines. On the 29th of May, 
Gaines replies that he had ordered six companies of the United 
States troops from Jefferson Barracks to Rock Island, and four 
other companies from Prairie du Chien, the object of which 
was to repel invasion and secure the frontier. On the 30th of 
May, the United States troops reached Fort Armstrong. A 
conference held with the Indian chiefs there proved unavailing. 
General Gaines then called on the governor of Illinois for an 
additional force, and on the 25th of June, Governor Reynolds 
and General Joseph Duncan, with 1600 mounted militiamen, 
reached Rock River. On the morning of the 26th General 
Gaines took possession of the Sac village, without firing a gun 
or meeting an Indian. The Indian party had crossed the 
Mississippi, with their women and children, the night previous. 

On the 30th of June, General Gaines and Governor Rey- 
nolds concluded a treaty of capitulation, by wliich this band of 
the Sacs agreed to live west of the Mississippi. 

In April, 1832, Black-Hawk's band, in violation of this 
treaty, recrossed to the east side of the Mississippi, for the pur- 
pose, as they said, of joining the Winnebugoes above, and 
raising a crop of corn and beans with them. General Atkin- 
son, then in command of the United States troops at Fort Arm- 
strong, twice by express, informed Black-Hawk, that if he did 
not return peaceably he would be forced back. The Indians- 
refused to be driven back, and at the same time determined, 
not to make the first attack. 



66 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

Black-Hawk, finding that the tribes of the Northwest would 
not join his standard, liad resolved to recross the Mississippi. 
They were encamped at Kish-wa-cokee, when the event oc- 
curred which brought the opposing forces into actual conflict. 
The Illinois mounted militia had proceeded to Dixon's Ferry, 
a point on Rock River half way between Rock Island and the 
Indian encampment. From this point Major Stillman, with 
about two hundred and seventy-five mounted volunteers, pro- 
ceeded on a scouting expedition to Sycamore Creek, thirty 
miles further up the river. Hearing that these men were ap- 
proaching, Black-Hawk sent three young men to meet them 
with a white flag. These young men were met by the whites, 
and one of them taken prisoner and killed. ' Of a party of five 
Indians who followed the former one, with pacific intentions, 
two w^ere also killed. The volunteers pursued till the whole 
force had crossed Sycamore Creek. Here, on the 14th of 
May, they met the warriors of Black-Hawk advancing to 
avenge their companions, were thrown into confusion, recross- 
ed the creek, and after the loss of twelve killed, were totally 
routed. 

The Indian success in this engagement encouraged them, 
while it alarmed the people of Illinois. On the 15th of May, 
Governor Reynolds issued his proclamation, calling out two 
thousand more militia, to meet at Hennepin on the 10th of 
June. 

From this time, during three months, a succession of actions 
took place between the whites and the Indians, with various 
success. The banks ©f the beautiful Rock River, of the Wis- 
consin, and even of the Mississippi, were stained with the blood 
of the red and the white man. Women and children were not 
spared, and more than one Indian squaw fell in battle. It is 
related, that at one place a ball broke the arm of a little child 
clinging to its mother's breast, and pierced her heart ; while 
the child, taken up by a kind American officer, was healed 
and lived ! Starvation as well as war pursued the broken and 
flying Indians, whose place of refuge on the Wisconsin had 
been discovered, and they driven from it. A portion of them, 
including a number of women and children, attempted to go 



BLACK-HAWK WAR. 



67 



down the Mississippi, but they were overtaken, and most of 
them captured or killed. 

The main body, under Black-Hawk, directed their course to 
the Mississippi, near the mouth of the Iowa River. Here they 
were overtaken, on the banks of the Mississippi, by General 
Atkinson, with an army of regulars and militia. Thev were 




'i'lie (leail liulian luotlier and her child. 



defeated and dispersed in the battle called Bad Axe, with the 
loss of many killed and prisoners. Black-Hawk himself 
escaped, but was soon after taken and delivered up, on the 27th 
of August, to General Street the Indian agent, by an act of 
treachery on the part of two of his followers. 

Thus terminated what is called the Black-Hawk War, up- 
on which various opinions have been expressed, but of which 
the results were what they invariably have been in all contests 
between the Indians and the whites. The Indians were dis- 
possessed of their lands. They retreated yet further towards 
the setting sun, leaving the blood of warriors and the tears of 



68 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

women to water the grass which grow upon the graves of their 
ancestors. The whites occupy their ancient fields, dig up 
with inquisitive hands the bones of the dead, replant the soil 
with the rich and verdant maize, build among them other, more 
beautiful, and far more magnificent towns ; build other tombs, 
and bury other dead ; point their spires, like their hopes, tf» 
the blue summits of the skies, and fill the circled earth with 
the resounding fame of arts and arms ! 

In the beginning of July, 1832, Scott embarked at Buffalo, 
with a body of nearly one thousand troops, in four steamboats, 
for Chicago. The purpose was to reach Illinois as speedily as 
possible, and there co-operate with the United States forces 
under General Atkinson, and the Illinois mounted militia, in 
the campaign against the Indians. This purpose was counter- 
acted by one of those sudden, severe, and solemn dispensations 
of Providence, which arrests the best-concerted schemes, startles 
the strongest intellect, admonishes man of his weakness, and 
demonstrates, in wonderful ways, the power of God ! 

The Asiatic Cholera was this dispensation. A native of 
oriental countries, it was long supposed to be confined to 
Hindostan and the neighboring regions. But in 1831, it spon- 
taneously, and without any observed cause, burst from its 
former limits, and, like an avalanche, fell with fearful force 
upon Northern Europe. Crossing from Asia into Russia, it 
was stopped neither by lines of latitude, nor by the cold snows 
of Scandinavia. It entered Moscow, proceeded to St. Peters- 
burg, ravaged Hungary, and visited nearly all the populous 
and renowned cities of Germany. Before it reached either 
England or France, two hundred thousand persons had already 
been slain ! 

Over rivers and over lakes, over prairies and over forests, it 
swept with silent but fatal force. It crept along the low banks 
of streams, and it ascended with the morning mists the moun- 
tain side. In the throngs of populous cities, and in the solitude 
of thick woods, it was still the same. It struck with the same 
unrelenting hand the rosy cheek of childhood, and the hoary 
locks of age. The human race stood before it, like the forest 
trees or orchard's fruit before the whirlwind ; the storm comes, 



ASIATIC CHOLERA. 69 

and the trees fall, the limbs break, the shrubs bend, the fruit is 
scattered : the storm is passed, and the remaining trees stand 
surrounded by broken trunks and by fallen branches ! 

Such was the precise elFect of the cholera of 1832, in the 
United States. No history can exaggerate the suddenness, the 
terror, or the irresistible force of its approach. Many, who 
might be expected to fall first, escaped, while many of the 
bravest died even from fear. 

This was the enemy, the conqueror of conquerors, which at- 
tacked Scott's expedition up the lakes, and soon destroyed all 
its power or utility as a military corps. - 

The Asiatic cholera, brought over the ocean in an emigrant 
ship, landed at Quebec in the beginning of June, 1832. Thence 
it proceeded immediately to Montreal, and thence up the St. 
Lawrence and the lakes with great rapidity. 

Scott had, as we have said, embarked at Buffalo for Chicago, 
in the beginning of July, with nearly a thousand men, in four 
steamboats. On the 8th of July, while on the bosom of the 
lake, the cholera broke out among the troops with great fa- 
tality. 

The facts attending the presence of this plague among the 
troops of the northwest have been carefully recorded by the 
journals of the country, and they will illustrate, as forcibly as 
any which can be produced, its fatal nature. 

General Scott, his staff, and about two hundred and twenty 
men, embarked in the steamboat Sheldon Thompson, in which, 
on the 8th of July, the cholera broke out. The boat arrived 
on the 10th inst., in the night, at Chicago, and in a short time 
left there. In these half dozen days, out of two hundred and 
twenty men, one officer and fifty-one men died, and eighty 
were left sick at Chicago. 

In the steamboat Henry Clay embarked Col. Twiggs, with 
three companies of artillery, and two or three of infantry. 

The fate of these was even worse than that of those in the 
Sheldon. Even a greater mortality in proportion was ex- 
perienced, and several of the most promising officers perished. 
The troops were landed near Fort Gratiot, at the lower end of 
Lake Huron, in the neighborhood of which they in a few days 



70 LIFE OF GEiNERAL i^COT'C. 

met with most extraordintiry sulierings. We have before us 
two accounts of the scenes there, and both, authentic statements 
of actual witnesses. 

One is written to the Journal of Commerce, apparently by an 
officer. It says, July 10 — 

" Our detachment, which consisted of about four hundred, 
has dwindled down to about one hundred and fifty, by pestilence 
and desertion. 

" The dead bodies of the deserters are literally strewed 
along the road between here and Detroit. No one dares give 
them relief, not even a cup of water. A person on his way 
from Detroit here, passed six lying groaning with the agonies 
of the cholera, under one tree, and saw one corpse, by the 
road-side, half eaten up by the hogs!" 

Mr. Norvell, of Detroit, writes thus to the editor of the 
Philadelphia Enquirer. 

" These troops, you will recollect, landed from the steam- 
boat Henry Clay, below Fort Gratiot. A great number of 
them have been swept off by the disease. Nearly all the 
others have deseited. Of the deserters scattered all over the 
country, some have died in the woods, and their bodies have 
been devoured by the wolves. I use the language of a gallant 
young officer. Others have taken their flight to the world of 
spirits, without a companion to close their eyes, or console the 
last moments of their existence. Their straggling survivors are 
occasionally seen marching, some of them know not whither, 
with their knapsacks on their backs, shunned by the terrified 
inhabitants ais the source of a mortal pestilence." 

At Chicago, as before and after. General Scott exposed him- 
self, though ill, by attending every officer and soldier taken 
sick. His conduct, in the continual care and effort for those 
under his charge, has been testified to by numbers of witnesses, 
themselves actors and observers in these scenes. 

Of the nine hundred and fifty men who lefl Buffalo, the 
number was in a short time so reduced, that no more than four 
hundred were left. Scott was detained by these melancholy 
occurrences, for several days, at Chicago. As soon as he was 
released, he lefl Colonel Eustis to follow with his reduced com- 



ASIATIC CHOLERA. 



71 



mand, and hastened across the prairies to join General Atkin- 
son on the Mississippi. He found him at Prairie du Chien, on 
the 3d of August, the day after the battle of Bad Axe. 




Soldier dying with tho Cholera. 

The fugitive Indians were soon brought in prisoners, both 
with the remainder of the Sac and Fox confederacy, which had 
remained in a state of doubtful neutrality, and with the Win- 
nebago nation, which had covertly given aid to Black-Hawk's 
band. 

In the mean while, about the middle of August, the cholera 
broke out among the regulars of Atkinson's army, at Rock 
Island, whither Scott had descended from Fort Crawford, Prai- 
rie du Chien. 

Here Scott was called upon to exercise his wonted kindness 
by attendance upon the sick and the dying. Night and day 



72 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

he visited and comforted thein, himself" always, when near it, 
laboring under some of the symptoms of the disease. Feeble 
in body, he was yet almost constantly in attendance on the 
afflicted. Great were his eiTorts to prevent the spread of the 
disease, and to overcome the symptoms of panic, scarcely less 
to be dreaded than the original calamity, which from time to 
time were exhibited. The mortality was appalling, but at 
length, on the 8th of September, the infection disappeared. 

To Scott's humane and generous conduct, throughout this 
terrible battle with pestilence, both at Rock-Island and on the 
Lakes, we have the testimony of one who was an eye-witness, 
and whose situation made him in all respects disinterested. 
We shall quote his own words — a language as reliable as that 
of official documents. He says that " the general's course of 
conduct on that occasion should establish for him a reputation 
not infeyor to that which he has earned in the battle-field ; and 
should exhibit him not only as a warrior, but as a man — not 
only as the hero of battles, but as the hero of humanity. It is 
well known that the troops in that service suffered severely 
from the cholera, a disease frightful enough from its rapid and 
fatal etfects, but which came among us the more so, from the 
known inexperience of our medical men, and from the general 
belief, at that time, in its contagiousness. Under such circum- 
stances it was clearly the genei'al's duty to give the best gen- 
eral directions he could for proper attendance on the sick, and 
for preventing the spread of the disease. When he had done 
this, his duty was performed, and he might have left the rest 
to his medical officers. But such was not his course. He 
thought he had other duties to perform, that his personal safety 
must be disregarded to visit the sick, to cheer the well, to en- 
courage the attendants, to set an example to all, and to prevent 
a panic — in a word, to save the lives of others at the risk of 
his own. All this he did faithfully, and when he could have 
had no other motive than that of doing good. Here was no 
glory to be acquired; here were none of the excitements of the 
battle-field ; here was no shame to be avoided, or disgrace to 
be feared ; because his general arrangements and directions to 
those whose part it was to battle with sickness, had satisfied 



74 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

duty. His conduct then exhibited a trait in his character 
which made a strong impression on me, and which, in my 
opinion, justice requires should not be overlooked." 

This is the language of a calm and impartial observer, an 
intelligent officer of the army. It proves that the laurels of 
Niagara had bloomed again on the banks of the Mississippi, 
but no longer with crimson flowers. They now appear in 
those sofl and lovely hues which make them kindred with the 
kindest and gentlest of human emotions. 

Near the middle of September, the cholera having subsided, 
the negotiations commenced with tiie Indian tribes, for the final 
settlement of difficulties. The scene of negotiation was Rock 
Island. The commissioners on the part of the United States 
were General Scott and Governor Reynolds. There, for sev- 
eral weeks, they received and entertained parties of the Sacs 
Foxes, Winnebagoes, Sioux, and Menomonies — all warlike 
nations, and often at war with one another. They now ap- 
peared — constrained into peace or neutrality by the presence 
of well-disciplined battalions — mingling together in the wild 
and martial costume of their race. 

When the chiefs and warriors of the confederacy on ex- 
traordinary occasions approached head-quarters, it was always 
with the loud tramp and shout, which seemed to be rather the 
clangor of war than the forms of ceremony. "When a council 
was to meet, they came at a furious charge ; suddenly dis- 
mounted, arranged themselves in order, and then, betweeii 
lines of soldiers, entered the pavilion with the firmness of 
victors, but with all the deep solemnity of a funeral. Arrayed 
in scarlet hues, their national color, sometimes on foot and 
sometimes mounted, nothing could be more striking than the 
fine figures, arms, and costume of the men. Their wives and 
daughters, too, were better looking, better clothed and orna- 
mented, than other Indian Avomen, and generally sustained the 
reputation of virtue and modesty. 

Of these tribes, the Sacs and Foxes, kindred and confederate 
clans, were the dandies and sometimes the Mamelukes of the 
forest. Though not very numerous, they are the first in war, 
the first in the chase, and the first in all that constitutes Indian 



76 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

wealth — cattle, horses, and clothing. Among these there was 
u mastei' spirit, the celebrated Ke-o-kuck, a Sac, then in the 
prime of life, tall, robust, manly, and who excelled all the sur- 
rounding red-men in wisdom and eloquence in council, in the 
majestic graces of the Indian dance, and in bold adventure 
against the buffalo, the bear, and the hostile Sioux and Meno- 
mine. Yet this person was not by birth a chief, and therefore 
held no hereditary power. He rose to be head man of the na- 
tion simply by his superior abilities. Becoming jealous of him, 
however, the tribe at one time deposed him. From this degra- 
dation, which he bore with great patience and equanimity, he 
was not altogether restored at the time of the treaty of Rock- 
Island. He was at that time a kind of treasurer and keeper 
of the records for the nation. In consequence of his great 
merit and talent. General Scott prevailed upon the principal 
persons of the nation again to elevate him to the chieftaincy, 
from which he has not been again removed. 

The scenes exhibited during these conferences, were of the 
deepest interest and the most picturesque kind. They were 
adapted rather to the pencil of a poet or a painter than to the 
grave records of history. The wild son of nature, scarcely more 
barbarous than those old Greek warriors whose names the 
song of Homer has borne from age to age on the wings of 
fame, here confronted the man of art and civilization, face to 
face, in warlike array, and in peaceful amusement. The 
song, the dance, the chase, the rolling drum and the whoop- 
ing shout, the white soldier and the tawny maiden, were 
mingled together in this conference between the retreating 
representatives of barbarism and the advancing children of im- 
provement. 

In the afternoons the scene was frequently enlivened by In- 
dian dances at head-quarters. These dances are generally 
pantomimes, remarkably descriptive of the achievements, 
events, and history of the individual or the tribe. They are 
exhibited by a large number of young warriors at the same 
time, to the music of rude instruments, and accompanied by 
occasional whoopings. The dancers are strictly attentive to 
time and order, rendering their voices accordant bj the modu- 



78 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

lation of the hand. The figures are principally, tlie war, 
buffalo, and corn dances. 

The Sac chief Ke-o-kuck executed a pas seul, presenting a 
spirited account of a war expedition, which he had himself 
conducted against the Sioux. The spectator having only a 
slight intimation of the subject, had yet presented distinctly to 
his mind the whole story in its vivid details. He saw the dis- 
tance overcome, the mountains and streams passed, the scoul« 
of the enemy slain, the crooked, stealthy approach, the ambush 
laid, the terrible whoop and onslaught, and the; victory which 
followed as the crowning triumph of the warrior. 

Sometimes these Indian dances were followed by cotillions, 
to the music of a military band, in which the American officers 
mixed, as partners and instructors of the Indians. The Indian 
ladies were too modest to engage in these amusements, but 
graced the scene with their presence, and testified their en- 
joyment by cheers and laughter. Meanwhile, a guard of 
grenadiers looked on with quiet delight — martial music sent 
forth its melody, fireworks sent up their red light and gleamed 
against the evening sky, shells and rockets burst in the air, 
the distant hills returned the echo, and these were mingled 
with the shrill shrieks of Indian applause. Refreshments were 
handed round nearly in the manner of our cities. Thus the 
white and the red man, the son of the forest and the pupil of 
cities, the aboriginal and the Anglo-Saxon, Avere mingled to- 
gether in social amusements with strong and singular con- 
trast. 

The conferences and treaty which followed were of high 
importance, both to the Indians and the United States. Gov- 
ernor Reynolds being an eminent lawyer and a high political 
functionary, was requested to take the lead in the councils. 
He, however, declining, it devolved on General Scott to con- 
duct the discussions. His speeches, and those of the Indian 
orators were ably and promptly interpreted and taken down at 
the time, by the secretary to the commissioners, the late tal- 
ented and accomplished Captain Richard Bache, of the army. 
By him they were deposited in the archives of the war depart- 
ment. 



NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE INDIANS. 79 

The interviews with the deputations of the Sioux and Meno- 
monies were interesting, although merely incidental to the war, 
which was now about to be terminated. But with the con- 
federacy to which Black-Hawk belonged, as also with the 
Winnebagoes, their accomplices, the negotiations and their 
results wei'e at once grave and important. Scott opened the 
council with a speech to the Sacs and Foxes. He paid a just 
compliment to Ke-o-kuck and certain other chiefs, for their 
prudence and patriotism in preventing the larger body of their 
people from rushing into a war, which Black-Hawk madly 
expected, with twelve hundred warriors, to carry to tlie shores 
of the lakes and the Ohio ! He adverted to the fact, that the 
Mississippi was passed and the invasion commenced, without 
it being known to the government or people of the United States, 
that any serious cause of complaint existed on the part of their 
red brethren. He declaimed against the crime of violating a 
solemn treaty of friendship, such as had long existed between 
the parties ; against the murders and desolations committed 
upon defenceless and unoffending settlers. He complimented 
Brigadier-General Atkinson and his troops on their vigorous 
pursuit and final defeat of the lawless invaders ; recalled the 
pains which had been taken for weeks after the battle, to hunt 
up the wounded, the women and children, to save them from 
imminent starvation ; and the extraordinary care, seen and ad- 
mired by all, which had been bestowed on those pitiable cap- 
tives. He contrasted these acts of humanity with the cruelties 
perpetrated on the other side ; and took care that the great 
superiority of Christianity and civilization should be perceived 
and felt by all who heard him. 

He next turned to the question of settlement, under the in- 
structions received by the commissioners, stated the cost of the 
war to the United States to be more than a million of dollars ; 
and claimed the right of holding, without further price, any 
reasonable portion of the enemy's country, then in the power 
of the conquerors ; and after laying down the principle of in- 
demnity in its utmost rigor, he concluded — " But, as the great 
God above, alike the Father of the white and red man, often 
deals mildly with his children, even when they have grossly 



so LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

sinned against his holy law and their own best interests, so 
would the people of the United States, in the fulness of their 
powder, imitate the Divine example, and temper justice with 
mercy, in dealing with their feeble brethren of the forest." 

These discussions finally ended in the consummation of 
treaties with these tribes, which secured to the United States 
immensely valuable tracts of land, while it also secured to the 
Indians peace and protection. 

In his transactions with several tribes of Indians, Scott had 
the good fortune to be regarded by them as a friend and a 
brother. He has since, in the East, been visited by both Ke- 
o-kuck and Black-Hawk ; and more recently, (in 1839,) has 
been most kindly received by the Winnebagoes, at their own 
homes in Wisconsin. 

In allusion to these transactions with the Indians, and to his 
generous services in ameliorating the horrors and sufferings 
produced by the cholera, the Secretary of War, General Cass, 
said, in reply to Scott's final report : — 

" Allow me to congratulate you, sir, upon this fortunate con- 
summation of your arduous duties, and to express my entire 
approbation of the whole course of your proceedings, during a 
series of difficulties requiring higher moral courage than the 
operations of an active campaign, under ordinary circumstan- 
ces." 

The assertion of the secretary was entirely correct ; for 
there have not been wanting those who had defied, in the high 
hope of glory, all the death-dealing agents of the bloody battle ; 
and yet, as if terror-stricken by some invisible power, have 
quietly sunk under the fears of pestilence. Those who knew 
best, have testified in this as in other actions, not only to the 
moral courage, but to that invaluable trait of character, a sa- 
gacious presence of mind, in General Scott, which has homo 
him successfully through all the varied scenes of danger, of 
enterprise, and of high intellectual demand, either moral or 
physical, into which his active life has led him. 



NULLIFICATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 81 



GENERAL SCOTT S AGENCY IN SUPPRESSING NULLIFICATION IN 
SOUTH CAROLINA. 

General Scott had scarcely returned from the scenes of 
Indian wars and Indian treaties in the West, when he was 
■called to raingle in others on the Southern border, which 
threatened far more danger to the peace and safety of the 
American Union. He arrived at New York in October, 1832, 
and had been with his family but a day or two, w-hen he was 
ordered to Washington to receive a new mission and a new 
trust. After a conference with the president and cabinet, on 
the difficulties which had arisen in South Carolina, he was 
dispatched in that direction on a business of the greatest deli- 
cacy and importance, and with powers requiring the exercise 
of the highest discretion. 

This difficulty was the attempt to nullify the revenue laws 
of the United States, by the action of a single state. South Caro- 
lina. This theory, and the events which followed its assertion 
in that state, are commonly called "nullification." It is un- 
necessary here to discuss any of the opinions held by various 
men and parties in the questions connected with a tariff of rev- 
enue duties, or with the reserved rights of the states. It is 
necessary, however, to give the reader a candid statement of 
the facts and events in this singular portion of American his- 
tory, in order that the precise situation of the country, when 
General Scott arrived at Charleston, its internal dangers, and 
the part he had in quieting those difficulties, may be fairly 
understood. In this, there is no need of inquiring into motives, 
and little chance of error ; for the parts of the several actors 
were performed in public, recorded by the public press, and 
sent upon the winds by the voices of a thousand witnesses. It 
was not so, however, with the part of General Scott ; for his 
duties were confidential. They were required to be performed 
with silence and delicacy. Hence, however much might de- 
pend upon his discretion, the mere fact of its exercise afforded 
little that was tangible and expressive to the pen of history. 
Yet we shall see, that his position and conduct there exercised 

4* 



82 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

a controlling influence over the event, and contributed mainly 
to the peaceful termination of the controversy. 

The excitement which terminated in what was called " nul- 
lification," commenced in consequence of the passage of the 
tariff* act of 1828. That act raised the revenue duties levied 
on the importation of foreign goods higher than any previous 
revenue act of the United States, It was passed avowedly for 
the protection of American industry. It was resisted by nearly 
all the representatives of the cotton-planting states, on the 
ground that it was injurious to their interests and contrary to 
the Constitution of the United States. They argued, that the 
greater the duties, the less the importations ; and that the less 
the importations, the less would be the exportations ; because 
foreign nations would have less ability to purchase. They 
deemed it unconstitutional, because they said it was unequal 
taxation. 

This was the substance of the argument by which a majority 
of the citizens of South Carolina arrived at a belief, that the 
tariff* act was both injurious to them, and unconstitutional. On 
this belief, they proceeded to resist the act by public meetings 
and inflammatory resolves, and finally to advance and carry out 
the doctrines of nullification. 

The tariff" act of 1828 was passed on the 15th of May of that 
year, and from that time henceforward for nrore than four years, 
a continual excitement was kept up in the extreme southern 
states, especially South Carolina and Georgia. In South Caro- 
lina, however, the most ultra measures were proposed, and ' 
there the question was brought to a direct issue, and bloodshed 
even, only averted by the great caution of the public officers, 
and the milder temperament of Congress. 

The following address to the people of South Carolina, ex- 
hibits the temper of the public mind at that time. 

" What course is left us to pursue ? If we have the com- 
mon pride of men, or the determination of freemen, we must 
resist the imposition of this tariff*. We stand committed. To 
be stationary is impossible. We must either retrograde in dis- 
honor and in shame, and receive the contempt and scorn of our 
brethren superadded to our wrongs, and their system of op- 



NULLIFICATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 83 

pression strengthened by our toleration ; or we must ' by op- 
posing, end them.' , 

" In advising an attitude of open resistance to the laws of the 
Union, we deem it due to the occasion, and that we may not 
be misunderstood, distinctly but briefly to state, without argu- 
ment, our constitutional faith. For it is not enough that im- 
posts laid for the protection of domestic manufactures are 
oppressive, and transfer in their operation millions of our 
property to northern capitalists. If we have given our bond, 
let them take our blood. Those who resist these imposts must 
deem them unconstitutional, and the principle is abandoned by 
the payment of one cent as much as ten millions." 

Such were the strains by which South Carolina was called 
to believe herself deeply injured, her feelings outraged, and 
her rights violated. "But how," says the orator, "are we to 
interpose for the purpose of arresting the progress of the evil ?" 
To this he replies — " A nullification, then, of the unauthorized 
act is the rightful remedy." 

Mr. John C. Calhoun, in a letter dated " Fort Hill, 30th 
of July, 1832," declared that nullification was a peaceful 
remedy, and necessary to the preservation of other powers. 

" The ungrounded fear," said he, " that the right of a state 
to interpose in order to protect her reserved powers against the 
encroachments of the general government, would lead to dis- 
union, is rapidl}' vanishing, and as it disappears, it will be 
seen that so far from endangering, the right is essential to the 
preservation of our system, as essential as the right of suffrage 
itself. 

" Thus thinking, I have entire confidence that the time will 
come, when our doctrine, which has been so freely denounced 
as traitorous and rebellious, will be hailed as being the great 
conservative principle of our admirable system of government, 
and when those who have so firmly maintained it under so 
many trials, will be ranked among the great benefactors of the 
country." 

The doctrine of " state interposition" against the general 
government, is here defended as an essential right, and the 
future approbation of the people confidently expected. 



84 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

To understand the exact state of things in South Carolina, 
at that time, and the conflict likely to ensue between the ma- 
jority in the state supporting nullification by the state power, 
and the general government executing the laws, with a mi- 
nority in South Carolina supporting it, we must review two or 
three other important movements. 

The doctrines of Mr. McDuffie, Major Hamilton, Mr. Cal- 
houn, and other leaders of the nullification party, were as 
strongly opposed by other distinguished men in South Carolina. 

Judge Smith, formerly United States Senator, in an address 
to the people of Spartanburgh district, thus writes — " To say 
you can resist the general government, and remain in the 
Union, and be at peace, is a perfect delusion, calculated only 
to hoodwink an honest community, until they shall have ad- 
vanced too far to retrace their steps ; which they must do, and 
do with disgrace and humiliation, or enter upon a bloody con- 
flict with the general government. For the general govern- 
ment cannot bow its sovereignty to the mandates of South 
Carolina, while the Union is worth preserving. And be as- 
sured, it will not bow to the mandate of any state, while the 
sovereign people believe that a confederated government is 
calculated to promote their peace, their honor, and their safety." 

It is seen that the political ideas inculcated in the extract 
last quoted, are directly opposed to those stated in the former 
extract from the letter of Mr. Calhoun. The latter assumes 
the supremacy of the Union, the former that of the State, 
under the name of state interposition. Hence, in the contro- 
versy which ensued, the name of the party of the majority was 
known as the nullification party, and that of the minority as the 
Union party. The controversy between the two parties in 
South Carolina was even more excited than that between the 
state and the general government. This was the condition of 
things when, in October, 1832, the legislature passed an act 
providing for the "calling of a convention of the people" of 
that state. The object of this convention in the terms of the 
act, was " to take into consideration the several acts of the 
Congress of the United States, imposing duties on foreign im- 
ports for the protection of domestic manufactures, or for other 



NULLIFICAriON IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 85 

unauthorized objects ; to determine on the character thereof, 
and to devise the means of redress.'" 

The convention elected according to this statute, assembled 
at Columbia, the seat of government, on the 19th of November, 
1332. The convention being assembled, enacted an " ordi- 
nance," vi^hose title was " to provide for arresting the operation 
of certain acts of the Congress of the United States, purporting 
to be taxes laying duties and imposts on the importation of for- 
eign commodities." 

On the final passage of the ordinance the word " nullify" 
was substituted for " arresting." 

This ordinance assumed to nullify the laws of the United 
States, to prevent the operation of the courts, and finally, to 
place all officers under oath to obey only the ordinance, and the 
laws made to give it etFect. 

The 2d section pronounced the tariff acts of 182S and 1832 
" null, void, and no law, nor binding upon the state, its officers, 
or citizens." 

The 3d section declared it unlawful '• for any of the consti- 
tuted authorities, whether of the state or the United States, to 
enforce payment of the duties imposed by said acts, within the 
limits of the state." 

The 4th section ordered that no case of law or equity deci- 
ded in that state, wherein was drawn in question the validity 
of that ordinance, or of any act of the legislature passed to give 
it effect, should be appealed to the supreme court of the United 
States, or regarded if appealed. 

Section 5th required that every one who held an office of 
honor, trust, or profit, civil or military, should take an oath to 
obey only this ordinance, and the laws of the legislature passed 
in consequence of it. 

The 6th section declared, that if the general government 
should employ force to carry into effect its laws, or endeavor 
to coerce the state by shutting up its ports, that South Carolina 
would consider th^ TTnion dissolved, and would " proceed to 
organize a separate government." 

This was the state of things in South Carolina, and in the 
Union, when, on the 10th of December, 1832, General Jackson 



86 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

issued his proclamation, exhorting all persons to obey the 
laws, denouncing the ordinance of South Carolina, and giving 
a very clear exposition of the principles and powers of the gen- 
eral government. This proclamation was written with great 
ability, and coming from the most popular man in the United 
States, exercising the functions of chief magistrate, and taking 
part with that love of union which, in all times and all cir- 
cumstances, has been an element in American character, the 
proclamation was universally read, and almost universally re- 
ceived with approbation and applause. The legislature of 
South Carolina answered in an appeal to the people of that 
state. 

Just before this point in history. General Scott had been 
called, in the exercise of his military functions, to perform a 
part, not very conspicuous to the public eye, but most import- 
ant in its consequences to the Union and the future welfare of 
the republic. What part that was will be shown by the unim- 
peachable testimony of authentic facts. 

On the 18th of November, 1832, a confidential order was 
issued from the war department to General Scott. The order, 
after expressing the President's solicitude as to affairs in South 
Carolina, a hope from the intelligence of the people, and a fear 
lest some rash attempt should be made against the forts of the 
United States in the harbor of Charleston, proceeds to say : — 

"The possibility of such a measure furnishes sufficient rea- 
son for guarding against it, and the President is therefore anx- 
ious that the situation and means of defence of these fortifica- 
tions, should be inspected by an officer of experience, who 
could also estimate and provide for any dangers to which they 
may be exposed. He has full confidence in your judgment 
and discretion, and it is his wish that you repair immediately 
to Charleston, and examine every thing connected with the 
fortifications. You are at liberty to take such measures, either 
by strengthening these defences, or by reinforcing these gar- 
risons with troops drawn from any other posts, as you may 
think prudence and a just precaution require. 

" Your duty will be one of great importance, and of great 
delicacy. You will consult fully and freely with the collector 



NULLIFICATION IN SOCTH CAROLINA. 87 

of the port of Charleston, and with the district attorney of South 
Carolina, and you will take no step, except what relates to the 
immediate defence and security of the posts, without their 
order and concurrence. The execution of the laws will be 
enforced through the civil authority, and by the mode pointed 
out by the acts of Congress. Should, unfortunately, a crisis 
arise, when the ordinary power in the hands of the civil officers 
shall not be sufficient for this purpose, the President shall de- 
termine the course to be taken and the measures adopted. Till, 
therefore, you are otherwise instructed, you will act in obedi- 
ence to the legal requisitions of the proper civil officers of the 
United States. 

" I will thank you to communicate to me, freely and con- 
fidentially, upon every topic on which you may deem it im- 
portant for the government to receive information. 
" Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

Lewis Cass." 
" Major-General Winfield Scott." 

General Scott arrived in Charleston on the 28th of Novem- 
ber, just two days after the passage of the ordinance. All was 
excitement- He found the people of Charleston divided into 
two parties, nearly equal in point of numbers, and each exas- 
perated towards the other. 

It was as important that he should not, by his presence or 
his acts, increase the excitement of the public mind, already 
too much inflamed, thus precipitating rash measures on the 
^'part of South Carolina, as it was that, in the last resort, he 
should maintain the supremacy of the laws held to be consti- 
tutional by every department of the federal government, and 
alike binding on all the states. This duty he was resolved to 
execute at every hazard to himself, but with all possible cour- 
tesy and kindness compatible with that paramount object. In 
this, his heart's warm feeling was, that the disaffected might 
be soothed, and South Carolina held in affectionate harmony 
with her sister states. 

If history be not silent on the events which then occurred, 



88 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

or on the part taken by distinguished citizens of South Carolina, 
still less should it omit a just testimony to the forbearance and 
prudence of the general and troops of the United States em- 
ployed in so delicate and dangerous a service. 

The officers and men of the army and navy bore themselves 
with the meekness and solemnity proper to so grave and un- 
usual a duty. In no instance did they indulge in any display, 
except on the 22d of February. 

Then rockets blazing through the skies^ and guns sounding 
over the waters, told that, as Americans, they remembered and 
blessed the anniversary of that day, which gave birth to the 

FATHER OF THE COUNTRY AND THE UNION ! On Other OCCasions, 

eveiy individual in that service, though firm in his allegiance 
and resolved to do his duty, evinced by his deportment how 
painful that duty might become. Scott gave both the precept 
and the example. Many officers, like himself, had frequent 
occasion to visit the city. Boats' crews were constantly pass- 
ing and repassing. It was agreed among the officers, and en- 
joined on the men, to give way to everybody, and not even to 
resent an indignity, should one be offered ; but to look on Caro- 
linians as their fellow-countrymen, whom all were anxious to 
reclaim from an unhappy delusion. These rules of forbear- 
ance were absolutely necessary, because any soldier or sailor, 
in a drunken rencounter, might have brought on all the evils of 
a bloody affray. 

Just at the period of the utmost anxiety, when all hearts 
were anxious lest the morrow should bring forth civil conflict, 
a fire was seen from Fort Moultrie, at twilight, rising from 
Charleston, rapidly spreading, and threatening the city with 
destruction. General Scott happened to be the first who per- 
ceived the conflagration, and with great promptness called for 
volunteers to hasten to the assistance of the inhabitants. All 
the officers and men were eager for the service, and, with the 
exception of a mere guard, all were dispatched in boats and 
without arms, to subdue the new and dreadful enemy. Each 
detachment was directed to report itself to some city officer, 
and to ask for employment. A detached officer preceded to 
explain the object of this sudden intrusion. Captain Ringgold of 



90 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT, 

the army, since promoted, and subsequently slain on the battle- 
field of Palo Alto, who commanded a detachment, rushed up to 
the intendant, (mayor,) and begged to be put to work. A citizen 
standing by, at once claimed his assistance to save a sugar- 
refinery, "then in imminent danger. "Do you hear that?" 
said Captain Ringgold to his men : " we will go to the death for 
the sugar r' This 'was in allusion to the famous threat of 
Governor Hamilton, in respect to his importation of that article, 
before the boxes had arrived, that " they would go to the death 
for the sugar." It may be added, that the detachment in- 
stantly repaired to the spot, and the refinery was saved. Nor 
was the good-humored quotation lost on the hundreds who 
heard it. 

The navy was not behind the army in this act of neighborly 
kindness. Both were early at the scene of distress. And all, 
after distinguishing themselves for zeal and energy, returned 
as sober and as orderly as they went, notwithstanding refresh- 
ments had been profusely handed round by the citizens. 

It is not extravagant to say, that this timely movement, so 
well conceived and so handsomely executed, overcame much 
of the excitement and prejudice existing against the United 
States, here represented by their soldiers and sailors. These 
men threw themselves, unexpected and unarmed, in the midst 
of a population strongly excited against them, and by saving a 
city from fire, powerfully contributed to save the Union from 
the greater horrors of civil war. The effect was immediate on 
the spot, and was soon spread to other parts of the state. It 
was one of those acts better adapted to sooth the asperities of 
feeling, than would have been any degree of courage, or suc- 
cess, in the forcible maintenance of the law. 

At this distance of time, the part performed by Scott may 
not seem of great importance. But he who thinks so should 
recollect, that history is obliged to trace the greatest events 
oftentimes to very small causes ; and that such a part as Scott's 
at Charleston, though having neither the crimson glare of bat- 
tle, nor the extraordinary skill of some artful act of diplomacy, 
may nevertheless have been the hinge of a crisis, and therefore 
more important than many battles. It is the handling of a 



NULLIFICATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 91 

delicate subject which makes it difficult, far more than the 
settlement of a question of exact right or wrong. 

Of the part which Scott bore in the pacification of the South, 
we shall here give the words of Mr. Watkins Leigh, of Vir- 
ginia, who stood high in the confidence of all parties, whose 
evidence is unimpeachable, and who had ample opportunities 
of observing all that was done. He says — 

" I was at Charleston when he (Scott) arrived and as- 
sumed the command, which he did without any parade or fuss. 
No one who had not an opportunity of observing on the spot the 
excitement that existed, can have an adequate conception of 
the delicacy of the trust. General Scott had a large acquaint- 
ance with the people of Charleston ; he was their friend ; but 
his situation was such that many, the great majority of them, 
looked upon him as a public enemy. What his orders were, 
I cannot undertake to tell you, nor have I any means of 
knowing . but from his conduct, which, I take it for granted, 
conformed with them. He thought, as I thought, that the first 
drop of blood shed in civil war, in civil war between the United 
States and one of the states, would prove an immedicable 
wound, which would end in a change of our institutions. He 
was resolved, if it was possible, to prevent a resort to arms ; 
and nothing could have been more judicious than his conduct. 
Far from being prone to take offence, he kept his temper under 
the strictest guard, and was most careful to avoid giving occa- 
sion for offence ; yet he held himself ready to act, if it should 
become necessary, and he let that be distinctly understood. 
He sought the society of the leading nullifiers, and was in their 
society as much as they would let him be, but he took care 
never to say a word to them on the subject of political differ- 
ences ; he treated them as a friend. From the beginning to 
the end, his conduct was as conciliatory as it was firm and 
sincere, evincing that he knew his duty, and was resolved to 
perform it, and yet that his principal object and purpose was 
peace. He was perfectly successful, when the least impru- 
dence might have resulted in a serious collision." 

We subjoin extracts from a letter from Major-General Scott 
to a distinguished leader and friend, a memb'er of the South 



92 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

Carolina Legislature, then in session at Columbia, in order to 
show the spirit and temper in which he discharged the delicate 
duties assigned him. 

" Savannah, Dec. 14tli, 1832. 

" My Dear Sir,— 

" You have an excellent memory to re- 
mind me, after so long an interval, of my promise to visit you 
when next on a tour to the South, and I owe you an apology 
for not earlier acknowledging your kind letter. It was handed 
to me just as I was about to leave Charleston, and I have 
been since too constantly in motion (to Augusta, and back 
here) to allow me to write. 

" As to the ' speculations' at Columbia relative to ' the object 
of my visit to Charleston at this moment,' I can only say, that 
I am on that very tour, and about the very time, mentioned by 
me when I last had the pleasure of seeing you. On what evil 
days we have fallen, my good friend, when so common-place 
an event gives rise to conjecture or speculation ! I can truly 
assure you, that no one has felt more wretched than your hum- 
ble correspondent, since an unhappy controversy began to as- 
sume a serious aspect. I have always entertained a high ad- 
miration for the history and character of South Carolina, and 
accident or good fortune has thrown me into intimacy, and 
even friendship, with almost every leader of the two parties 
which now divide and agitate the state. Would to God they 
were again united, as during the late war, when her federalists 
vied with the republicans in the career of patriotism and glory, 
and when her legislature came powerfully to the aid of the 
Union. Well, the majority among you have taken a stand, 
and those days of general harmony may never return. What 
an awful position for South Carolina, as well as for the other 
states I********* 

" I cannot follow out the long, dark shades of the picture 
that presents itself to my fears. I will hope, nevertheless, for 
the best. But I turn my eyes back, and, good God ! what do 
I behold ? Impatient South Carolina could not wait — she has 
taken a leap, and is already a foreign nation ; and the great 



NULLIFICATION IN SOUTH CARDLIVA. 93 

Rames of Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, and Greene, no longer 
compatriot with yours, or those of Laurens, Moultrie, Pinck- 
ney, and Marion with mine ! 

" But the evil, supposing the separation to have been peace- 
able, would not stop there. When one member shall withdraw, 
the whole arch of the Union will tumble in. Out of the bro- 
ken fragments new combinations will arise. We should proba- 
bly have, instead of one, three confederacies — a northern, south- 
ern, and western reunion ; and transmontane Virginia, your 
native country, not belonging to the South, but torn off by the 
general West. I turn with horror from the picture I have only 
sketched. I have said it is dark ; let but one drop of blood be 
spilt upon the canvass, and it becomes ' one red.' 

" ' Lands intersected by a narrow frith 

Ablior each otiier. Mountains interposed 
Make enemies of nations, which had else, 
Like kindred drops, been mingled into one.' 

" But you and my other South Carolina friends have taken 
your respective sides, and I must follow out mine. 

" You have probably heard of the arrival of two or three 
companies at Charleston in the last six weeks, and you may 
hear that as many more have followed. There is nothing in- 
consistent with the President's message in these movements. 
The intention simply is, that the forts in the harbor shall not 
be wrested from the United States. I believe it is not appre- 
hended that the state authorities contemplate any attack, at 
least in the present condition of things, on these posts ; but I 
know it has been feared that some unauthorized multitude, 
under sudden excitement, might attempt to seize them. The 
President, I presume, will stand on the defensive — thinking it 
better to discourage than to invite an attack — better to prevent 
than to repel one, in order to gain time for wisdom and modera- 
tion to exert themselves in the capitol at Washington, and in 
the state-house at Columbia. From humane considerations 
like these, the posts in question have been, and probably will 
be, slightly reinforced. I state what I partly know, and what 
I partly conjecture, in order that the case which I see is pro- 
vided for in one of your bills, may not be supposed to have 



94 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

actually occurred. If I were possessed of an important secret 
of the government, my honor certainly would not allow me to 
disclose it ; but there is in the foregoing neither secrecy nor 
deception. My ruling wish is, that neither party take a rash 
step, that might put all healing powers at defiance. It is, 
doubtless, merely intended to hold the posts for the present. A 
few companies are incapable of effecting any further object. 
The engineer, also, is going on, steadily, but slowly, in erect- 
ing the new work on the site of Fort Johnson, (long since pro- 
jected lor the defence of the harbor,) tlie foundation of which 
is but just laid. When finished, some years hence, I trust it 
may long be regarded, both by South Carolina and the other 
states, as one of the bulwarks of our common coast. 

There is nothing in this letter intended to be confidential, nor 
intended for the public press. When I commenced it I only 
designed giving utterance to private sentiments, unconnected 
with public events ; but my heart being filled with grief on 
account of the latter, my pen has run a little into that distress. 
Let us, however, hope for more cheering times. Yet, be this 
as it may, and whether our duties be several or common, I 
shall always have a place in- my bosom for the private affec- 
tions, and that I may ever stand in the old relation to you, is 
the sincere wish of your friend, 

WiNFIELD ScOTT." 

With this letter we close the narrative of one of the most 
critical periods of American history. It has not been written 
to add to, or take from, the merit, the errors, or the part, of 
any one of the actors in those scenes. History is fable when 
it is not just. It may be a picture of fancy made beautiful by 
the pencil of flattery, or deformed by the pen of scandal, but it 
cannot be history, when truth is not the writer and justice the 
witness of its record. 

The veil of confidence yet rests upon many of Scott's acts 
and letters of this period. 



FLORIDA WAR. 95 



FLORIDA WAR. 

On the lltli August, 1835, tlie United States mail carrier 
who left Tampa, Florida, was murdered about six miles from 
that place. The mangled body of the carrier was thrown into 
a pond, and the mail carried off. The murderers, though not 
taken, were ascertained to be Indians. At first, this was sup- 
posed to be only an isolated outrage. But it was soon discov- 
ered that the Seminole tribe of Indians, then resident in Florida, 
united with a (ew individuals of the Creek tribe, had become 
discontented, and determined on opposition to the whites ; that 
able chiefs were exciting them, and that murmurs of injustice 
perpetrated by the people of the United States against them, 
and of an indignant resistance to it, were heard among the 
small but independent tribes of Florida. In about three months 
more, this resistance and muttered indignation burst forth, in 
depredations against property, in plantations ravaged, in dwell- 
ings burnt, and in murders committed ; in fine, with the deso- 
lations and horrors of an Indian war. In return, they were 
told that they should be swept from the earth ; but, if they had 
the courage to die with arms in their hands, " the white man 
would not deny them the privilege of sleeping out their death- 
sleep on the soil upon which he cannot endure their living 
presence." 

Osceola, or Powell, one of the head chiefs of the Seminoles, 
is represented as the principal instigator of the war, and one 
of the boldest warriors engaged in it. His father was a white 
man, and his mother a Creek Indian ; but, among the Indians, 
the men take rank generally from their mothers, Osceola 
was therefore known as a Creek. But, like Ke-o-kuck, he 
inherited no title or command. He was raised to distinction 
by superior talents, courage, and ambition. Before the war, 
he was proud, gloomy, and insolent ; but on one occasion, in a 
talk with the agent, (General Thompson,) he burst into a par- 
oxysm of passion, declared the country was theirs, that they 
wanted no agent, and that he (General Thompson) had better 
be off. For this he was arrested, and confined. Afterwards 



96 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

he assumed penitence, appeared cheerful, signed the treaty, 
and was released, with many fair promises. Subsequent 
events proved that this appearance was but the acting of a 
part. 

On the 20th of January, 1836, General Scott was ordered to 
the command of the army of Florida. He saw the Secretary 
at War at four o'clock on the afternoon of that day. Being 
asked when he could set out for Florida, he replied, " that 
night." His instructions, however, could not be drawn up till 
the following day. On the 21st, it appeared probable that 
many of the Creeks would join the Seminoles, and General 
Scott received orders to proceed immediately to the theatre of 
hostilities and assume the command. Having I'eached Picolata, 
on the St. John's River, Scott issued his general orders on the 
22d of February. He formed the armj^ into three divisions. 
The troops on the west of the St. John's, under the gal- 
lant General Clinch, were to constitute the right wing of the 
army. Those on the east of that river, under Brigadier-Gen- 
eral Eustis, the left ; while those at Tampa Bay, under Colo- 
nel Lindsay, were to form the centre. These troops were to 
be reinforced by volunteers from the neighboring states. 

It was after the middle of March, when General Scott, 
having made all his arrangements for the three divisions of the 
army, and they having been joined by the volunteers, the coU 
umns of Clinch, Eustis, and Lindsay, respectively moved to- 
wards the Wythlacoochee, in order to meet in what was sup- 
posed to be the heart of the Indian country. It was then con- 
fidently believed that the great body of the Indians were in the 
swamp, about the junction of the Wythlacoochee. 

The troops, however, moved through the country, without 
finding any other enemy than separate parties of the Semi- 
noles, who from time to time were met, and who fought fiercely 
in their retreat. All the battles and the plans which had pre- 
ceded this expedition, had evidently failed of either breaking 
the spirit of the Indians, or even of tracing them to their coverts 
and towns. The columns of Scott moved through the country 
which had been the scene of Dade's massacre, and of the battles 
with Clinch and Gaines, without having discovered the retreats 



FLORIDA WAR. 97 

of the Indians, and, in fact, witliout having met any large body 
of them. 

On the 5tli of April all the divisions of the army had arrived 
at Tampa Bay. Their arrival was hastened by both sickness 
and hunger. It had been found impossible to carry a large 
supply of provisions through a country where the men alone 
could scarcely advance, where horses were continually failing, 
and where climate rendered it dangerous to expose the men to 
unusual fatigue. Each had in turn hastened to Tampa. The 
expedition having failed in its main object — the discovery and 
breaking up of the enemy's main or central stronghold — Gen- 
eral Scott determined to scour the country with small detach- 
ments and corps, in order, if possible, to uncover the Indian 
retreats. Five different corps were employed in this way. 
One was led by Scott himself, which, passing the battle-ground 
of Dade, crossed the Ocklewaha, and finally ascended in a 
steamboat from Volusia up the St. John's River. Another 
corps moved under the command of Clinch ; another under 
Eustis ; another under Colonel Smith, up Peas Creek ; a fifth 
moved under Major Reed, up the Wythlacoochee from its 
mouth ; and a sixth was commanded by Colonel Lindsay. 
None of these parties, however, met with any more important 
events than encountering small bodies of the enemy, and 
occasional skirmishes. 

When this campaign, whose entire period was scarcely one 
month, had termiriated, the troops had already been attacked 
with severe sickness ; near four hundred were in the hospitals ; 
the provisions were totally inadequate to proceed farther, and 
for the first time it had been fully discovered, and proved, that 
the enemy to be pursued was lodged literally in wildernesses 
and swamps, to which the feet of civilized men had scarcely 
ever penetrated, and which were inaccessible to the common 
methods of approach by regular troops. Notwithstanding 
these facts, it is not very surprising, that many of the inhabit- 
ants of Florida on the exposed frontier were alarmed, and freely 
censured the general, who, however brave, zealous, or inde- 
fatigable, had nevertheless been unable to conquer the laws of 
nature, or resist the approaches of disease. 

5 



98 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

On the 9th of July, General Scott gave up the command of 
the army, having been ordered to Washington under extraordi- 
nary circumstances. 

He immediately obeyed the order, proceeded to Washington, 
and demanded a court of inquiry. On the 3d of October a 
court, composed of Major-General Macomb, and Brigadier. 
Generals Atkinson and Brady, was directed to assemble at 
Frederick, in Maryland, and to inquire into the conduct of 
General Scott, in the Florida and Creek campaigns. 

The decision of the court of inquiry was entirely in favor of 
General Scott. 

" The court, after a careful review of the great mass of tes- 
timony taken in the foregoing investigation, (the Florida cam- 
paign,) finds that Major-General Scott was amply clothed with 
authority to create the means of prosecuting the Seminole war 
to a successful issue ; but is of opinion that, at the time he was 
invested witli the command, the season was too far advanced 
for him to collect, appoint, and put in motion his forces, until a 
day too late to accomplish the object. It appears that after 
using great diligence and energy, he was not in a condition to 
take the field and enter the enemy's strongholds before the 28th 
of March, and then without sufficient means for transporting 
the necessary supplies to enable him to remain there long 
enough to seek out the scattered forces of the enemy. 

" The court, therefore, ascribe the failure of the campaicn 
to the want of time to operate, the insalubrity of the climate 
after the middle of April, the impervious swamps and ham- 
mocks that abound in the country then occupied by the enemy, 
aftbrding him cover and retreat at every step, and absence of 
all knowledge, by the general or any part of his forces, of the 
topography of the country, together with the difficulty of obtain- 
ing, in time, the means of transporting supplies for the army. 

" The court is further of opinion, from the testimony of 
many officers of rank and intelligence who served in the cam- 
paign, that Major-General Scott was zealous and indefatigable 
in the discharge of his duties, and that his plan of campaign 
was well devised, and prosecuted with energy, steadiness, and 
ability." 



FLORIDA WAR. 99 

On the other charge, which was tried at the same time, of 
Jelay in opening and prosecuting the Creek campaign in 1836, 
the opinion of the court was as follows, viz : — 

"Upon a careful examination of the abundant testimony 
taken in the foregoing case, the court is of opinion that no de- 
lay, which it was practicable to have avoided, was made by 
Major-General Scott in opening the campaign against the Creek 
Indians. On the contrary, it appears that he took the earliest 
measures to provide arms, munitions, and provisions for his 
forces, who were found almost wholly destitute ; and as soon 
as arms could be put into the hands of the volunteers, they 
were, in succession, detached and placed in positions to prevent 
the enemy from retiring upon Florida, whence they could move 
against the main body of the enemy, as soon as equipped for 
offensive operations. 

" From the testimony of the Governor of Georgia, of Major- 
General Sanford, commander of the Georgia volunteers, and 
many other witnesses of high rank and standing who were 
acquainted with the topography of the country, and the position 
and strength of the enemy, the court is of opinion that the plan 
of campaign adopted by General Scott was well calculated to 
lead to successful results, and that it was prosecuted by him, 
as far as practicable, with zeal and ability, until recalled from 
the command." 

Such was the strong testimony which the court and the wit- 
nesses bore to General Scott's zealous and judicious arrange- 
ments in the campaigns of the south. At this time, looking 
back upon the events of those campaigns, with a clearer vision 
than could then be fixed on a cotemporaneous field of action, 
the truth and the justice of this judicial opinion are both mani- 
fest and demonstrable. 

In the year 1837, when the House of Representatives was 
engaged in one of those debates on various and miscellaneous 
topics, which grow out of the management of public affairs, the 
Hon. Richard Biddle, of Pennsylvania, took occasion to speak 
of General Scott, in connection with the Florida campaigns. 

Mr. Biddle said : — 

" It would be recollected by all, that after the war in Florida 



100 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

had assumed a formidable aspect, Major-General Scott was 
called to the command. An officer of his rank and standing 
was not likely to seek a service in which, amidst infinite toil 
and vexation, there would be no opportunity for the display of 
military talent on a scale at all commensurate with that in 
which his past fame had been acquired. Yet he entered on it 
with the alacrity, zeal, and devotion to duty by which he has 
ever been distinguished. 

" And here (Mr. B. said) he might be permitted to advert to 
the past history of this officer. 

" Sir, when the late General Brown, writing from the field 
of Chippewa, said that General Scott merited the highest praises 
which a grateful country could bestow, was there a single 
bosom throughout this wide republic that did not respond to the 
sentiment ? I for one, at least, can never forget the thrill of 
enthusiasm, boy as I then was, which mingled with my own 
devout thankfulness to God, that the cloud which seemed to 
have settled on our arms was at length dispelled. On that 
plain it was established that Americans could be trained to meet 
and to beat, in the open field, without breastworks, the regulars 
of Britain. 

" Sir, the result of that day was due not merely to the gal- 
lantry of General Scott upon the field. It must in part be 
ascribed to the patient, anxious, and indefatigable drudgery, the 
consunjmate skill as a tactician, with which he had labored, 
night and day, at the camp near Buffalo, to prepare his brigade 
for the career on which it was about to enter. 

" After a brief interval he again led that brigade to the glo- 
rious victory of Bridgewater. He bears now upon his body 
the wounds of that day. 

" It had ever been the characteristic of this officer to seek 
the post of danger, not to have it thrust upon him. In the 
years preceding that to which I have specially referred — in 
1812 and 1813 — the eminent services he rendered were in 
positions which properly belonged to others, but into which he 
was led by irrepressible ardor and jealousy of honor. 

" Since the peace with Great Britain, the talents of General 



FLORIDA WAR. 101 

Scott have ever been at the command of his country. His pen 
and his sword have alike been put in requisition to meet the 
varied exigencies of the service. 

" When the difficulties with the western Indians swelled up 
into importance, General Scott was dispatched to the scene of 
hostility. There rose up before him then, in the ravages of a 
frightful pestilence, a form of danger infinitely more appalling 
than the perils of the field. How he bore himself in this 
emergency — how faithfully he became the nurse and the phy- 
sician of those from whom terror and loathing had driven all 
other aid, cannot be forgotten by a just and grateful country." 

Mr. Biddle then continued in a defence of the conduct of 
General Scott in the Florida and Alabama campaigns, con- 
cluding with the following eloquent peroration : — 

" Mr. Chairman, I believe that a signal atonement to Gen- 
eral Scott will, one day, be extorted from the justice of this 
House. We owe it to him ; but we owe it still more to the 
country. What officer can feel secure in the face of that great 
example of triumphant injustice ? Who can place before him- 
self the anticipation of establishing higher claims upon tlie 
gratitude of the country than General Scott ? Yet he was sac- 
rificed. His past services went for nothing. Sir, you may 
raise new regiments, and issue new commissions, but you can- 
not, without such atonement, restore the high moral tone which 
befits the depositaries of the national honor. I fondly wish 
that the highest and the lowest in the country's service might 
be taught to regard this House as the jealous guardian of his 
rights, against caprice, or favoritism, or outrage, from whatever 
quarter. I would have him know that, in running up the 
national flag, at the very moment our daily labors commence, 
we do not go through an idle form. On whatever distant ser- 
vice he may be sent — whether urging his way amidst tumbling 
icebergs, towards the pole, or fainting in the unwholesome 
heats of Florida — I would enable him, as he looks up to that 
flag, to gather hope and strength. It should impart to him a 
proud feeling of confidence and security. He should know 
that the same emblem of majesty and justice floats over the 
councils of the nation ; and that in its untarnished lustre we 



102 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

have all a common interest and a common sympathy. Then, 
sir, and not before, will you have an army or a navy worthy 
to sustain and to perpetuate the glory of former days." 



SCOTT S AGENCY IN QUELLING THE TROUBLES ON THE NIAGARA 
FRONTIER. 

In the year 1837, Canada, which continues, in spite of the 
republican influences of the United States, under the govern- 
ment of Great Britain, became the scene of great political 
excitement, and of warm resistance to the measures of its 
administration. Towards the close of that year insurgent 
movements broke out among the French population of the 
lovsrer province, and the spirit of revolt was spread among the 
disaffected of Upper Canada. The border population of all 
nations take great interest in what occurs beyond the boundary 
line, and are disposed either to invade or sympathize with their 
neighbors, according to the events by which they are excited. 
When, therefore, the flame of insurrection was kindled in 
Canada, it was not arrested by a mere line of jurisdiction. It 
reached and agitated the frontier inhabitants of the United 
States, along the entire border from the hills of Vermont to the 
Huron of the northwest. On this frontier, the citizens enrolled 
themselves as Canada patriots or sympathizers, until, perhaps, 
one fourth of all the inhabitants capable of bearing arms were 
professed friends and abettors of the Canada movement. Itiner- 
ant refugees were seen everywhere organizing their friends, 
with a view to descents upon the Canadas. Thousands and thou- 
sands met in lodges all along the border, oaths of secrecy were 
administered, principal leaders appointed, generals and staff- 
officers chosen, and, at least for Upper Canada, a provisional 
government formed. The President of the United States issued 
his proclamation enjoining all good citizens to observe the 
strictest neutrality towards the British provinces. It had but 
little effect. 

The arms in the hands of the citizens, and even those in the 



BURNING OF THE CAROLINE. 103 

state arsenals witliin reach of the borders, were soon seized or 
purloined, thus atTording equipments to the American Canada 
patriots. At length, a Mr. Van Rensselaer, with some hun- 
dreds of followers, crossed from Schlosser, (a mile and a half 
above Niagara Falls,) and took possession of Navy Island, a 
small uninhabited spot within the British lino, but near to 
our shore. At this time there could be little hope of going 
further, for the only outbreak in the opposite province had l>een 
crushed in a moment by the very people to whom it was pro- 
posed to give independence and freedom. At this time also, 
besides some regular troops, seventeen-twentieths of the pro- 
vincial militia were firm in their loyalty, well organized, well 
armed, and commanded by regular officers. 

This idle invasion, though unimportant to the Canadas, was 
not without consequences in history. It was followed by a 
very serious incident, which excited deep feeling in the United 
States, and was the subject of much diplomatic correspondence. 

Van Rensselaer, we have said, was stationed with a scanty 
and ill-provided band at Navy Island. Schlosser, as above 
stated, was a point on the American shore just opposite. A 
small steamer called the Caroline was engaged by Van Rens- 
selaer to act as a ferry-boat between these two points. The 
very first night the Caroline commenced her voyages, the 
British fitted out an expedition from the opposite point, Chip- 
pewa. Instead of directing their attack, as they might have 
done, against Navy Island, within their own territory, and 
which they would probably have captured, they chose to violate 
our territory, by boarding the unarmed steamer fastened to the 
wharf at Schlosser. She happened to be full of idle people, 
including boys unconnected with Van Rensselaer, who had 
been attracted to the frontier by the rumor of war, and who had 
simply begged a night's lodgings. One citizen was killed, and 
several others wounded. The boat was cut loose, set on fire, 
and sent over the cataract, as was reported, and long believed 
by many, with several wounded Americans on board. When 
this occurred, a flame of excitement rose up throughout the 
interior of the United States. The sentiment of patriotism and 
the feeling of revenge were frequently mingled together. 



104 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

Orderly citizens seized upon the arms nearest at hand, and 
flocked to the frontier. Their numbers increased, and the 
peace of this country, and perhaps of all other civilized nations, 
was threatened, by the act of outrage committed on the Caro- 
line. 

That vessel was destroyed December 29th, 1837. The 
news reached Washington January 4th. General Scott hap- 
pened to be there. A cabinet council was called, and Scott 
was told that blood had been shed, and he must hasten to the 
frontier. Full powers were given him to call for militia, to 
put himself in communication with the United States district 
attorneys, marshals, and collectors, in order through them to 
enforce the act of neutrality, the good faith pledged to Great 
Britain by treaty, and, in short, to defend our own territory, if 
necessary, against invasion, or to maintain peace throughout 
the borders. No regular troops were at hand. All had been 
withdrawn for the Florida war. He had ordered up, in passing 
New York, small parties of unattached army recruits, and at 
Albany invited the able and patriotic governor (Marcy) to 
accompany him to the Niagara. The presence of the governor 
was highly valuable during the few days that he could remain. 
Being on the spot, he was ready to supply any number of 
volunteers, on the requisition of Scott, as they might be needed ; 
for it was not known that the violation of our territory at 
Schlosser might not be followed up by other outrages of the 
same kind. 

During the winter of 1838 and that of 1838-9, he was busy 
in exercising his influence for peace, and in quieting our dis- 
turbed frontier. The troops, both regulars and volunteers, 
proved to be steady supporters of law and order, and were 
held everywhere ready, as posses, at the call of the United 
States marshals and collectors. 

Scott posted himself nowhere, but was by turns rapidh 
everywhere, and always in the midst of the greater difficulties. 
In these winter campaigns against the trespassers of the bor- 
ders, he passed frequently along the frontier, sometimes on the 
Detroit and sometimes on the north line of Vermont. His 



TREATIES BINDING ON EACH CITIZEN. 105 

journeyings were made by land, and principally in the night ; 
oftentimes with the cold from ten to twenty degrees below the 
freezing point. Daylight he chiefly employed in organizing 
the means of counteraction by an extensive correspondence 
and the labors of direct pacification. He obtained, and pressed 
upon district attorneys, marshals, and collectors, information 
of the designs and movements of the patriots, and tendered to 
those civil functionaries the aid of the troops. In performance 
of his duty as a peacemaker, he addressed, on a line of eight 
hundred miles, immense gatherings of citizens, principally 
organized sympathizers, who had their arms at hand. 

In these addresses he declaimed with fervor, and they were 
often received with the loud applause of the audience. He 
handled every topic which could inspire shame in misdoers, or 
excite pride in the friends of the government and country. 
His speeches were made with popular illustrations and allusions, 
and addressed both to the knowledge and the sentiment of the 
people. He reminded them of the nature of a republic, which 
can have no foundation of permanency except in the general 
intelligence, virtue, respect, and obedience of its people ; that 
if, in the attempt to force on our unwilling neighbors inde- 
pendence and free institutions, we had first to spurn and trample 
under foot treaty stipulations and laws made by our own repre- 
sentatives, we should greatly hazard free institutions at home 
in the confidence and respect of our own people ; that no gov- 
ernment can or ought to exist for a moment after losing the 
power of executing its obligations to foreign countries, and of 
enforcing its own laws at home ; that that power depended in 
a republic chiefly on the people themselves ; that we had a 
treaty with England, binding us to the strictest observance of 
amity, or all the duties of good neighborhood with adjoining 
provinces, and also an act of Congress for enforcing those sol- 
emn obligations ; that the treaty and the laws were as binding 
on the honor and the conscience of every American freeman, 
as if he had specially voted for each ; that this doctrine was 
of the very essence of a civilized republic, as the neglect of it 
could not fail to sink us into anarchy, barbarism, and universal 
contempt ; that an aggressive war, waged by a part of the 

5* 



106 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

community, witliout just cause and without preparation, as ia 
common among barbarian tribes, necessarily drags the non- 
consenting many along with the madness of the few, involving 
all alike in crime, disaster, and disgrace ; that a war, to be 
successful, must be very ditierently commenced ; and in these 
addresses he would often conclude : — " Fellow-citizens, — and 
I thank God, we have a common government as well as a 
common origin, — I stand before you without troops and without 
arms, save the blade by my side. I am, therefore, within your 
power. Some of you have known me in other scenes, and all 
of you know that I am ready to do what my country and what 
duty demands. I tell you, then, except it be over my body, 
you shall not pass this line — you shall 7wt embark.'" 

But the inquiry was everywhere heard, " What say you of 
the burning of the Caroline, and the murder of citizens at our 
own shore ?" 

In reply to these questions, General Scott always fr^mkly 
admitted that these acts constituted a national outrage, and that 
they called for explanation and satisfaction ; but that this whole 
subject was in the hands of the President, the official organ of 
the country, specially chosen by the people for national pur- 
poses ; that there was no doubt the President would make the 
proper demand, and failing to obtain satisfaction, would lay the 
whole matter before Congress — the representative of the public 
will, and next to the people, the tribunal before which the 
ultimate appeal must be made. 

These harangues were applauded, and were generally very 
successful. Masses of patriots broke off and returned to their 
respective homes, declaring, that if Scott had been accompanied 
by an army they would not have listened, but persevered. 
The friends of order were also encouraged to come out in 
support of authority, and at length peace and quiet were 
restored. In the mean while, one of those incidents occurred 
which make history dramatic, and which illustrate how much 
depends on individual men and single events. Many days 
after the destruction of the " Caroline," another steamer, the 
" Barcelona," was cut out of the ice in Buffalo harbor, (Janu- 
ary, 1838,) and taken down the Niagara river, to be offered, 



THE BARCELONA COMES UP THE RIVER. 107 

as was known, to the patriots, who were still on Navy Island. 
Scott wished to compel them to abandon their criminal enter- 
prise. He also desired to have them, on returning within our 
jurisdiction, arrested by the marshal, who was always with 
him. For this purpose, he sent an agent to hire the Barcelona 
for the service of the United States, before the patriots could 
get the means to pay for her, or find sureties to indemnify the 
owners in case of capture or destruction by the British. He 
succeeded in all these objects. The Barcelona proceeded back 
to ButFaio, where Scott had immediate use for her on Lake 
Erie, yet navigable in all its length. The authorities on the 
Canada side were on the alert to destroy her. 

As the Barcelona slowly ascended against the current on 
our side of Grand Island, (belonging to the United States.) three 
armed British schooners, besides batteries on the land, were 
in positions, as the day before, to sink her as she came out 
from behind that island. On the 16th of January, Scott and 
Governor Marcy stood on the American shore opposite that 
point, watching events. The smoke of the approaching boat 
could be seen in the diatance, and the purpose of the British 
was perfectly evident in all their movements. The batteries 
on our side were promptly put in position. The matches were 
lighted. All was ready to return the British fire. There was 



a crisis 



The day before this, when it was supposed the Navy Island 
people were coming up the same channel in other craft, and 
before it was known that the Barcelona had accepted his offered 
engagement, Scott wrote on his knee, and dispatched by an 
aid-de-camp, the following note. 

" To the Commanding Officer of the Armed British Vessels in 
the Niagara. 

" Head-quarters, Eastern Division U. ) 
S. Army, two miles below Black > 
Rock, January 15th, 1838. ) 

" Sir— 

With his Excellency the Governor of New York, who 
has troops at hand, we are here to enforce the neutrality of the 



108 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

United States, and to protect our own soil or waters from viola- 
tion. The proper civil officers are also present to arrest, if 
practicable, the leaders of the expedition on foot against Upper 
Canada. 

" Under these circumstances, it gives me pain to perceive 
the armed vessels, mentioned, anchored in our waters, with the 
probable intention to fire upon that expedition moving in the 
same waters. 

" Unless the expedition should first attack — in which case 
we shall interfere — we shall be obliged to consider a discharge 
of shot or shell from or into our waters, from the armed schoon- 
ers of her Majesty, as an act seriously compromiting the neu- 
trality of the two nations. I hope, therefore, that no such 
unpleasant incident may occur. 

" I have the honor to remain, &c., &c. 

WiNFiELD Scott." 

The same intimation was repeated and explained the next 
morning, January 16th, to a captain of the British army, who 
had occasion to wait upon Scott on other business, and who 
immediately returned. It was just then that the Barcelona 
moved up the current of the Niagara. The cannon on either 
shore were pointed, the matches lighted, and thousands stood 
in suspense. On the jutting pier of Black Rock, in view of all, 
stood the tall form of Scott, in full uniform, watching the 
approaching boat. On Scott's note and his personal assurances, 
alone depended the question of peace or war. Happily, these 
assurances had their just effect. The Barcelona passed along. 
The British did not fire. The matches were extinguished ; 
the two nations, guided by wise counsels, resumed their usual 
way ; and war's wild alarms were hushed into the whispers 
of peace. 

Small a place as this incident may occupy in history, it was 
a critical moment in the affairs of nations. Had one British 
gun been fired, and much more, had the Barcelona been de- 
stroyed, no authority or influence would have restrained our 
excited population. We should probably have had an unpre- 
meditated war : one of those calamities which nations have to 



110 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

endure for their sins, and which is without the consoling and 
self-supporting consciousness of a great moral right. It would 
have been war from an incident, and not a national controversy. 

War may be justified on moral grounds, when the thing in 
dispute is of small physical magnitude, but -there must be a 
question of right at the bottom. Such was the case when Scott, 
on this same Niagara frontier, had, by glorious achievement, 
mingled his fame with the eternal voices of its cataract. Then, 
he was contending for those rights of man and of citizenship 
without which a nation could neither be independent, nor 
respect itself, nor be respected by the nations of the earth. 
Now, the dictate of right was peace, a peace which should 
leave the people of Great Britain and its colonies to settle their 
own domestic government in their own way, while our citizens 
were left undisturbed in their rights, and our shores untouched 
by the hand of aggression. 

Soon after this time. General Scott passed through Albany, 
when the legislature was in session, and received the attentions 
of a large number of public men and other citizens, without 
distinction of party. A public supper was given him, princi- 
pally by members of the legislature, at which the lieutenant- 
governor presided, and Governor Marcy was a guest. All 
vied in expressions of respect for, and confidence in, the gallant 
officer whom they had assembled to welcome to the capital. 

Among the toasts given on this occasion, may be cited the 
following, as characteristic of the prevailing tone and spirit — 

" WiNFiELD Scott — not less the scholar than the soldier, 
whose pen and sword have been wielded with equal skill in the 
defence of his country." 

" The Soldier — who has ever made the law of the land his 
supreme rule of action, and who, while he has always fulfilled 
its utmost requirements, has never, in a single instance, tran- 
scended its limits." 

" Our Guest — the invincible champion of our rights, the 
triumphant vindicator of our laws." 

A similar entertainment was given on the following evenino- 
at another hotel, the Honorable Gulian C. Verplanck presiding. 

The feelings and confidence of his fellow-citizens were thus. 



SCOTT SENT TO THE CHEROKEE COUNTRY. Ill 

in various ways and in numerous quarters, manifested towards 
the man who was not merely a soldier, nor only a leader, but 
who was the servant of the laws, a faithful citizen, and the 
pacificator of troubled communities. 



scott's labors in removing the cherokees. 

For more than ten years, extending from 1828 to 1838, a 
controversy was maintained, in various forms, between the 
state of Georgia and . the Cherokee tribe of Indians, most of 
whom were residents of Georgia, and between the United States 
and each of those parties. The subject of this controversy was 
the lands belonging to the Cherokees in the state of Georgia. 
As the white settlements advanced, the Indians were gradually 
enclosed. They had become cultivators of the soil. They 
held good farms. They had a yet greater attraction, in the 
discovery of gold within their territory — that shining object, 
which had added new energy to the enterprise of settling the 
Western World, when as yet the ocean was a trackless waste, 
and the land an unsubdued wild. It is not surprising that 
these attractions were enough to allure the desires of the 
wliites, and occasion efforts to drive the Indians from their 
lands. The only question was the justice of the means used 
to attain the end. 

On the 10th of April, 1838, General Scott received orders to 
take the command of the troops dispatched to the Cherokee 
country, and to assume the general direction of affairs in that 
quarter. Having concerted measures with the war department 
for the removal of the Cherokees, and for the protection of the 
neighboring citizens, he entered upon his painful field of labor 
with that conscientiousness, and that high regard to duty, 
which forms a distinguished characteristic of his public as well 
as private acts. 

On the 10th of May he issued an address to the Cherokee 
nation, having, two days before, reached the Cherokee agency 
in Tennessee. 



ADDRESS TO THE CHEROKEES. 113 

Address. 

" Cherokees — The President of the United States has sent 
me, with a powerful army, to cause you, in obedience to the 
treaty of 1835, to join that part of your people who are alweady 
established in prosperity on the other side of the Mississippi. 
Unhappily, the two years which were allowed for the purpose, 
you have suffered to pass away without following, and without 
making any preparation to follow, and now, or by the time that 
this solemn address shall reach your distant settlements, the 
emigration must be commenced in haste, but, I hope, without 
disorder. I have no power, by granting a farther delay, to 
correct the error that you have committed. The full moon of 
May is already on the wane, and before another shall have 
passed away, every Cherokee man, woman, and child, in those 
states, must be in motion to join their brethren in the far West. 

" My friends — This is no sudden determination on the part 
of the President, whom you and I must now obey. By the 
treaty, the emigration was to have been completed on or before 
the 23d of this month, and the President has constantly kept 
you warned, during the two years allowed, through all his 
officers and agents in this country, that the treaty would be 
enforced. 

" I am come to carry out that determination. My troops 
already occupy many positions in the country that you are to 
abandon, and thousands and thousands are approaching from 
every quarter, to render resistance and escape alike hopeless. 
All those troops, regular and militia, are your friends. Re- 
ceive them and confide in them as such. Obey them when 
they tell you that you can remain no longer in this country. 
Soldiers are as kind-hearted as brave, and the desire of every 
one of us is to execute our painful duty in mercy. We are 
commanded by the President to act towards you in that spirit, 
and such is also the wish of the whole people of America. 

" Chiefs, head men, and warriors — Will you then, by re- 
sistance, compel us to resort to arms 1 God forbid ! Or will 
you, by flight, seek to hide yourselves in mountains and forests, 
and thus oblige us to hunt you down ? Remember that, in 



114 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

pursuit, it may be impossible to avoid conflicts. The blood 
of the white man, or the blood of the red man, may be spilt, 
and if spilt, however accidentally, it may be impossible for the 
discreet and humane among you, or among us, to prevent a 
general war and carnage. Think of this, my Cherokee breth- 
ren ! I am an old warrior, and have been present at many a 
scene of slaughter; but spare me, I beseech you, the horror 
of witnessing the destruction of the Cherokees. 

" Do not, I invite you, even wait for the close approach of 
the troops ; but make such preparations for emigration as you 
can, and hasten to this place, to Ross's Landing, or to Gunter's 
Landing, where you will all be received in kindness by officers 
selected for the purpose. You will find food for all, and clothing 
for the destitute, at either of those places, and thence at your 
ease, and in comfort, be transported to your new homes ac- 
cording to the terms of the treaty. 

" This is the address of a warrior to warriors. May his 
entreaties be kindly received, and may the God of both prosper 
the Americans and Cherokees, and preserve them long in peace 
and friendship with each other. 

" WiNFiELD Scott." 

The Indians were soon brought into the military posts, where 
they were amply provided for. Thence they were escorted to 
emigrating depots as rapidly as was consistent with the collec- 
tion of their personal effects, their health, and comfort. By 
the middle of June the operations in Georgia had been so nearly 
completed, that orders were issued for the honorable discharge 
of the troops of that state. In Scott's order, high praise was 
bestowed on Brigadier-General Charles Floyd and the troops 
under his command, who were all of Georgia, for the hand- 
some and humane manner in which their duties were per- 
formed. 

Scott, hoping that the Cherokees in North Carolina, Ten- 
nessee, and Alabama, might be encouraged to enrol themselves 
voluntarily, by the kind treatment shown to their brethren in 
Georgia, now sent Indian runners, who tendered their services, 
to those distant settlements ; and in the mean time suspended 



A DROUGHT DRIES UP THE RIVERS. 115 

further collections to the 20th of June. On the morning of the 
13th, those Indians were found by the troops as entirely un- 
prepared as the Georgian Cherokees had been ; yet, at the end 
of ten days, all but a few stragglers in the mountains were 
brought in, with their personal property. The volunteers were 
discharged before the 15th of July, and as rapidly as arrange- 
ments could be made for their being mustered and paid, except 
a single company, retained a little longer for special service. 
More than a million of dollars was saved by the rapidity of 
these movements and discharges. With the exception of a few 
principal families, allowed to remain at their comfortable homes 
until called for, and some stragglers in the mountains, the whole 
body of the Cherokee nation had been collected for emigration 
before the middle of July, and without shedding one drop of 
blood. They were not without arms and fastnesses, nor with- 
out courage for the defence of their native homes. They were 
conquered by skilful movements, and yet more by generous 
kindness. All the volunteers, like the regulars, had caught 
the spirit of Scott's addi'esses and orders. It was a pleasant 
and edifying scene to see officers and men every whei'e giving 
ready aid, in every difficulty and distress, to the helplessness 
of age and infancy. Tears were doubtless shed, and not alone 
by the Indian race. 

Scott's business up to this date had been simply military. 
To bring in the Indians, and to turn them over with guards, if 
needed, to the civil agent for Cherokee emigration, was the only 
duty assigned him by the government. That agent had already 
put in motion some three thousand for their Western destina- 
tion. But now, the Hiwassee, the Tennessee, and the Arkan- 
sas rivers had ceased to be navigable. A drought which had 
commenced in Jime, and which lasted to October, had already 
become distressing. In the next ten days, drinking-water for 
men and horses near the land route of emigration was not to 
be found, except at intervals of ten, or more frequently, of thirty 
miles. Scott, from humanity, and at the instance of the Chero- 
kees, took upon himself to stop the emigration until the return 
of the cool and healthy season. That determination was sub- 
sequently approved at Washington. 



116 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

All the principal Indians were first called to head-quarters. 
Scott spoke of the drought, stated his wish to suspend the 
movement to the West, the expense of delay, the extreme 
inconvenience to himself of remaining with them till autumn, the 
want also of the regular troops elsewhere, and the fear that 
their people might break and disperse, if not kept within the 
chain of posts and sentinels. Every chief instantly agreed to 
sign a solemn pledge, not only for himself but for his family 
and friends ; not only to prevent dispersion, but to send runners 
of their own, to bring in the stragglers and those concealed, 
who still remained out. This written pledge was kept in good 
faith. 

Scott immediately sent off three regiments of regulars to the 
Canada frontiers and Florida, where he knew they were much 
needed. The other two were retained more to aid and protect 
than to guard the Indians. 

The Cherokees were now distributed into three large camps ; 
the principal, twelve miles by four, on high and rolling ground, 
on the Hiwassee, well shaded and abounding in springs and 
flowing rivulets. All necessary supplies were abundant and 
good, including medicines ; vaccination was introduced by the 
personal influence of Scott against the general prejudice ; 
dram-shops were put under the guard of troops, to prevent the 
sale of liquors ; and numerous Indian superiors were appointed 
to visit every family daily, and to report on their wants. All 
worked well. Scott established himself for long months at the 
agency, in the midst of the principal camp, charged with in- 
numerable labors and cares for the good of his pupils ; for such 
they were, both by the relation they sustained to the United 
States, and the watching and instruction he gave them. 

The delegation, with Ross the principal chief, returned from 
Washington in July, when Scott received authority from the 
war department to transfer, by negotiation, the further emigra- 
tion from the civil agent to the Cherokees themselves. The 
proposition was submitted to the nation, and adopted with joy. 
The same delegates were appointed to arrange the general terms 
with Scott. The cost of the movement, as in the previous 
arrangement, was to be paid out of the five millions of dollars 



118 LIFE OP GENERAL SCOTT. 

Stipulated by the United States to be given in exchange with 
the new country West, for the one inhabited by the Cherokees 
in the East. 

To Scott, the sum to be paid per capita, for the removal, as 
proposed by the delegates, appeared much too high. The 
subject was referred back to the general council of the Chero- 
kees, the largest they had ever held, who approved the new 
terms proposed by Scott. The same authority appointed a 
purveyor of supplies on the route, and the delegates specially 
charged with that duty proceeded to enroll their people into 
convenient parties for the road, with a conductor, sub-conductor, 
and physician, for each, to collect wagons, horses, and every 
thing necessary for the movement, as soon as the season and 
rain might permit. 

Here was a wonderful change. A few months before, 
seven-tenths of the Cherokees threatened to die in defence of 
their ancient homes. Now the only contest among the chiefs 
and parties was — who shall first take the road to the far West. 
All were eager to lead or to follow. 

At length October came, with some slight showers of rain, 
and by the 16th of November the last detachment was in 
motion. The sick and helpless only were left to proceed by 
steam on the rise of the rivers. 

Scott followed the line of emigration to Nashville, in order 
to help and cheer on the movement. He had intended to 
proceed farther ; but an express overtook him from Washing- 
ton, with dispatches, saying that the Patriots were reorganized 
to the number of eighty thousand, and were getting ready to 
break into the Canadas at many points. He instantly departed 
in that direction. Stopping nowhere to accept the public hon- 
ors tendered him, he arrived at Cleveland and Detroit at critical 
moments. Thence he passed down the frontier into Vermont, 
and completed the work we have described in the preceding 
chapter. He re-established peace, law, and order all along 
the disturbed frontier of Canada. 

In all this he had moved with almost the swift flight of the 
birds, and his work was completed in the brief space of their 
summer excursions. In this short season had Scott performed 



PARTING PROM THE HOME OF CHILDHOOD. Il9 

the work of Cherokee emigration, and returned to new and ar- 
duous labors in an opposite region and a very different climate. 
Such sudden changes, and such rude exposures, are the sol- 
dier's lot in pursuit of duty and in obedience to his country. 

In this brief story we have narrated the manner in which the 
Cherokees — fifteen thousand in number — were carried from 
the homes of their fathers and the graves of their dead. That 
they left them in sadness, and looked to the uncertain future 
with dread and dark foreboding, none can doubt. How^ever 
adventurous, far-searching, or curious may be the human mind 
when voluntarily pursuing its own objects, it cannot be forced 
from its ancient associations, without experiencing a shock 
similar to that which uproots the aged tree, breaking its 
deepest roots, snapping its tendrils, and blighting its, softest 
verdure. This is a shock, too, which is felt the most in 
the most secluded retreats of the family. It touches the 
hearts which have grown in the shade, where few rays from 
the glaring light of the world have ever fallen. It would not 
be difficult to, imagine some Indian woman, and perhaps an 
aged one, stopping alone by the rippling stream to hear the 
murmur of waters she should hear no more — to break a twig 
from trees whose shade she should enjoy no longer — to linger 
round the lonely mound, which was henceforth to be the only 
memorial of her race — to cast one last look on the summits of 
hills, to which, with the friends of her youth, she had often 
gazed in the glowing sunsets of summer. They fade now in 
the shades of evening, and she heaves the last sigh, drops her 
last tear, and hills, and woods, and murmuring streams, live 
for her only in the memory of the exile ! 

The remaining years of her life she spends in strange scenes, 
and looking intensely into the future, hopes, perhaps, for 

" Some safer world in depths of woods embraced, 
Some happier island in the watery waste, 
Where slaves once more their native land behold, 
No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold." 

Such scenes as these may be easily imagined, and it is 
scarcely possible they should not have occurred in any nation, 
savage or civilized, on leaving their native land. The ques- 



120 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

tion, however, remains, whether, in the plans of Providence, 
and their merciful development, the policy of the United States 
towards the Cherokees has not really been the true policy, 
and its effect for their ultimate good ? It is certain that they 
have received a rich and valuable territory, where, on the 
waters of the Arkansas, they yet cultivate lands — where they 
have organized a civil government, and where they appear still 
to advance in numbers and prosperity. Should this continue 
to be their history, may they not hereafter become a State of 
aboriginal inhabitants, in a condition of civilization and Chris- 
tianity ? If this should happily be the case, the Cherokee State 
will be a monument enduring through after ages of that wild 
and singular race, who seemed the children of the forest, defy- 
ing the scrutiny of philosophy, and shunning the gaze of civil- 
ized man. The lone mound will not be their only memorial, 
nor tradition their only story. They will live to enjoy the 
fruits of legal liberty, to extend the dominion of the arts, to 
rest in the shade of peace ; and, no longer hunters and war- 
riors, adorn the realms of science, religion, and philosophy. 

But whatever may be thought of the act or the result of 
removing the Indians, no one can doubt that the part Scott had 
in that business was performed with a skill, a humanity, and a 
forbearance worthy of much admiration. 

In the National Intelligencer of that time there appeared an ar- 
ticle from a responsible writer, describing the character of Scott's 
acts, narrated in this and the previous chapter. From that we 
take the following extract, as just as it is historically true : 

" The manner in which this gallant officer has acquitted 
himself within the last year upon our Canada frontier, and 
lately among the Cherokees, has excited the universal admira- 
tion and gratitude of the whole nation. Owing to his great 
popularity in the North, his thorough knowledge of the laws 
of his own country, as well as those which govern nations, 
united to his discretion, his great tact and experience, he has 
saved the country from a ruinous war with Great Britain. 
And by his masterly skill and energy among the Cherokees, 
united to his noble generosity and humanity, he has not only 
effected what everybody supposed could not be done without 



AN ACCOUNT OF RECENT EVENTS. 121 

the most heart-rending scenes of butchery and bloodshed, but 
he has effected it by obtaining the esteem and confidence of 
the poor Cherokees themselves. They look upon him as a 
benefactor and friend, and one who has saved them from entire 
destruction. 

" All the Cherokees were collected for emigration without 
bloodshed or violence, and all would have been on their way 
to the West before the middle of July, had not humanity in- 
duced General Scott to stop the movement until the 1st of 
September. Three thousand had been sent off in the first half 
of June by the superintendent, before the general took upon 
himself the responsibility of stopping the emigration, from feel- 
ings which must do everlasting honor to his heart. 

" An approval of his course had been sent on by the War 
Department before his report, giving information that he had 
stopped the emigration, had reached the seat of government. 

" In the early part of January last, the President asked Con- 
gress for enlarged powers, to enable him to maintain our neu- 
tral obligations to England ; that is, to tranquillize the Canadian 
frontiers. 

" Before the bill passed Congress, General Scott had finished 
the work, and effected all its objects. These, too, he effected 
by flying from one end of the frontier to the other in the dead . 
of winter, and during the severest and coldest period of it. 

" He returns to Washington, and is immediately ordered to 
the Cherokee nation, to take charge of the very difficult and 
hazardous task to his own fame of removing those savages 
from their native land. Some of his best friends regretted, 
most sincerely, that he had been ordered on this service ; and, 
knowing the disposition of the world to cavil and complain 
without cause, had great apprehensions that he would lose a 
portion of the popularity he had acquired by his distinguished 
success on the Canadian frontier. But, behold the manner in 
which this last work has been performed ! There is so much 
of noble generosity of character about Scott, independent of his 
skill and bravery as a soldier, that his life has really been one 
of romantic beauty and interest." 

The truth of this picture may be judged by the facts of this ■ 

6 



122 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

history. But whatever opinion may be formed on that point, 
there have been men of the most eminent intelligence, them- 
selves disinterested and capable of judging, who have formed 
the same estimate of the character and acts of Scott. We 
subjoin the following testimony of the Rev. Doctor Channing,'' 
in a work published in Boston : 

" To this distinguished man belongs the rare honor of uniting 
with military energy and daring, the spirit of a philanthropist. 
His exploits in the field, which placed him in the first rank of 
our soldiers, have been obscured by the purer and more lasting 
glory of a pacificator, and of a friend of mankind. In the 
whole history of the intercourse of civilized with barbarous or 
half-civilized communities, we doubt whether a brighter page 
can be found than that which records his agency in the removal 
of the Cherokees. As far as the wrongs done to this race can 
be atoned for. General Scott has made the expiation. 

■*' In his recent mission to the disturbed borders of our coun- 
try, he has succeeded, not so much by policy as by the noble- 
ness and generosity of his character, by moral influences, by 
the earnest conviction with which he has enforced on all with 
whom he has had to do, the obligations of patriotism, justice, 
humanity, and religion. It would not be easy to find among 
us a man who has won a purer fame ; and I am happy to offer 
this tribute, because I would do something, no matter how 
little, to hasten the time, when the spirit of Christian humanity 
shall be accounted an essential attribute and the brightest 
ornament of a public man." 



GENERAL SCOTT S AGENCY IN SETTLING THE MAINE BOUNDARY.' 

From the land of the Cherokees and the scene of their exile, 
General Scott hastened back to that northern frontier, which 
had so nearly become the theatre of war. He again visited 
and tranquillized the Canadian borders, from Detroit along 
almost the whole line to Northern Vermont. Here he learned 



SETTLEMENT OF THE MAINE BOUNDARY. 123 

that hostile movements were on foot on both sides of what was 
then known as the Disputed Territory. This was a territory 
on the borders of the state of Maine, the boundaries of which the 
United States and Great Britain had not been able exactly to 
ascertain, so as to determine satisfactorily the line between the 
two nations. 

Hearing of these difficulties and of this danger, and fearing 
that letters to him might be misdirected in consequence of the 
rapidity of his movements, Scott hastened immediately to 
Washington. He presented himself at the War Department a 
day and a half in advance of the mail from the Canada line. 

The condition of affairs on his arrival, was perilous to the 
peace, not merely of this country or of Great Britain, but of 
the civilized world ; far it can hardly be supposed that the two 
greatest commercial nations could come in conflict on every 
sea, and in almost every port of the globe, and yet not involve 
other nations, or that war would cease with the cessation of the 
immediate cause. The passion for war is contagious. The 
bystanders in the play of battles feel an instinctive impulse to 
share in the action. Their reason and their conscience can 
hardly restrain them from feeling, and even believing, that 
their interest, their honor, or their fame requires that they also 
should enter the arena of a bloody ambition, pursuing the re- 
wards of conquest or the glory of victories. Hence it is that 
a war between leading nations, especially between the new and 
old systems of government, would, reasoning from experience 
and probabilities, result in one of those general and long- 
continued seasons of bloodshed, revolutions, and conquests, 
which have so often impoverished the substance, and corrupted 
the morals of nations. 

When Scott arrived at Washington, such a crisis seemed to 
be tangibly and visibly present. The President of the United 
States, Mr. Van Buren, just then announced to Congress, by 
special message, that " the peace of the two nations is daily 
and imminently endangered." The President also said, that in 
a certain event, he should feel himself bound to call out the 
militia to repel invasion, and he invited from Congress such 
action as it deemed expedient. So extraordinary was the dan- 



124 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

ger, that Congress adopted extraordinary measures. In five 
days, an act was passed authorizing the President, if he deemed 
best, to call out the militia for six months, to accept, if neces- 
sary, the services of fifty thousand volunteers ; and appropria- 
ting ten millions of dollars for these objects. 

Scott having arrived at Washington, had interviews with the 
President, with the Secretaries of State and War, and with the 
committees in Congress on foreign and military affairs. He 
assisted in drawing and urging the bills to put at the disposition 
of the Executive fifty thousand volunteers, and ten millions 
of dollars to meet exigencies. This being done, he immedi- 
ately departed, and reached Augusta, the seat of government 
in Maine, in about eight days after his arrival at Washington. 
It turned out that had he been three days later, he would have 
found a war made to his hands. 

Passing through Boston, and having official business with 
Crovernor Everett, of Massachusetts, he repaired to the state- 
house, where that accomplished officer and scholar addressed 
him in substance as follows : — 

" General : — 

" I take great pleasure in introducing you to the members 
of the Executive Council of Massachusetts ; I need not say that 
you are already known to them by reputation. They are 
familiar with your fame as it is recorded in some of the arduous 
and honorable fields of the country's struggles. We rejoice 
in meeting you on this occasion, charged as you are with a 
most momentous mission by the President of the United States. 
We are sure you are intrusted with a duty most grateful to 
your feelings — that of averting an appeal to arms. We place 
unlimited reliance on your spirit, energy, and discretion. 
Should you unhappily fail in your efforts, under the instiuctions 
of the President, to restore harmony, we know that you are 
equally prepared for a still more responsible duty. Should 
that event unhappily occur, I beg you to depend on the firm 
support of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." 

His reception by the people and authorities of Maine at 
Augusta, the seat of government, was such as to increase his 



SETTLEMENT OF THE MAINE BOUNDARY. 125 

power of harmonizing opposite feelings, by showing the strong 
sympathy between himself and the body of the people. On 
Thursday, March 7th 1839 General Scott met the citizens 
of Augusta, representatives and soldiers, in the Legislative 
Hall. A correspondent of the Portland Argus says : — 

" The hall was full and the galleries were crowded. Many 
could not get places. The greeting of the general to the 
officers and soldiers introduced to him was peculiarly happy. 
In one of the representatives, Mr. Frost of Bethel, he recognised 
a fellow-soldier of the last war. They were both wounded in 
the same battle. The interview was enthusiastic. The gen- 
eral seemed hardly willing to part with his hand. 

"After a half hour spent in these mutual interchanges of 
friendship, Mr. Allen of Bangor, in a few remarks, welcomed 
General Scott among us, to which welcoming he replied by 
thanking the audience for the hearty reception they had given 
him in the capitol of Maine, and by expressing his happiness at 
being enabled, face to face, to see so many of her sons — and, 
should war come, he should be glad to be found shoulder to 
shoulder, breast to breast with such soldiers." 

When Major-General Scott arrived in Maine, it so happened, 
that he had with him an unanswered private letter from Sir 
John Harvey, *the governor of New Brunswick, written before 
the troubles on the borders of that province, and received at 
the far South. A reply to that friendly letter brought on at 
once a semi-official correspondence between the parties, which 
soon became brisk and public. 

Standing high in the confidence of his own government, and 
being above pique and petty advantages, all repugnance to- 
wards the first step, which was required by the resolution that 
passed the Maine Legislature, towards preserving the peace 
of the borders, and the consequent peace of two great nations, 
on honorable terms, was soon conquered by the governor of 
New Brunswick. When this was done, Scott felt himself at 
liberty to appeal to the same generous sentiments on the part of 
the Maine authorities. 

The governor of Maine became satisfied that he might take 
the second step, but thought he could not withdraw the troops 

* The same Harvey mentioned on p. 30 o'" this work. 



126 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

from the disputed territory without the concurrence of the 
Legislature. With his approbation, Scott had now to urge his. 
suit for peace and compromise with the members of the Legis- 
lature. Both political parties had been equally excited against 
New Brunswick and Great Britain about the boundary ; but 
both were jealous and watchful of each other. Each had, 
within a few years, gained predominance, by the use of this 
foreign question. It was natural they should think, that a too 
ready yielding might be unpopular at home. It was therefore 
necessary that the members of these political parties in the 
Legislature should make a simultaneous movement. Scott 
had succeeded in reconciling the leading members of the domi- 
nant party im Maine to the measures of their political friends 
at Washington ; he had succeeded in obtaining a friendly con- 
cession from the Governor of New Brunswick ; and now he 
had the address to reconcile opposing parties in the Legislature. 
We have been told, and indeed the newspapers of the day 
show something of it, that this was a remarkably interesting 
scene. The details belong chiefly to that private history which 
public reports do not reach, and which rarely or never are 
developed till another generation. 

The resolutions of Maine were passed on the 20th instant. 
By that time Scott was prepared with his memorandum, signed 
by Sir John Harvey, and containing all that was necessary to 
establish peace. Governor Fairfield immediately added his 
signature. Copies were duly interchanged by General Scott. 
Tranquillity was restored on the borders, and the subject of 
peace and war transferred to the national authorities. 

The resolutions of the Maine Legislature were passed on the 
20th of March, and on the 21st instant, General Scott sent his 
official communication to Sir John Harvey, which was the 
memorandum of what was assented to by the Governors of 
Maine and New Brunswick. 

To show the estimate which Sir John Harvey placed in the 
ability, integrity, and honest purposes of General Scott, we 
subjoin the following letter. 



SETTLEMENT OF THE MAINE BOUNDARY. 127 



" My DEAR General Scott — 

" Upon my return from closing the ses- 
sion of the Provincial Legislature, I was gratified by the 
receipt of your very satisfactory communication of the 21st 
instant. My reliance upon you, my dear general, has led me 
to give my willing assent to the proposition which you have 
made yourself the very acceptable means of conveying to me ; 
and I trust that as far as the province and the state respectively 
are concerned, an end will be put by it to all border disputes, 
and a way opened to an amicable adjustment of the national 
question involved. I shall hope to receive the confirmation of 
this arrangement on the part of the State of Maine at as early 
a period as may be practicable." 

The people of the United States, like Sir John Harvey, looked 
upon Scott as the Pacificator, who had now made himself as 
much the friend of peace, as he once had been distinguished as 
the warrior of battles. 

It was but a short time after this transaction, that another 
distinguished man, of singular ability and great influence, had 
the honor of terminating this vexed question, of fixing, so that 
it could no longer be mistaken, our northern boundary, from the 
foot of the Rocky Mountains, by the Lake of the Woods, and 
down the St. Lawrence, and through this disputed territory to 
the Atlantic. Met in the same peaceful spirit by the British 
minister, he was able to close these harassing difficulties, to 
quiet the disturbed minds of the people, and in this olive-branch, 
plucked from the midst of agitated waters, offer to the nations 
another evidence that a kindlier and better spirit had begun to 
govern human affairs. He had already been the strongest 
actor in Ibrensic combats, tlie noblest orator of senate halls ; 
and the Washington Treaty, negotiated on the part of the 
United States by Daniel Webster, received the speedy confir- 
mation of the Senate. 



128 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 



GENERAL SCOTT ORDERED TO MEXICO. 

When the information reached Washington, in May, 1846, 
that the Mexican forces had crossed the Rio Grande, the 
President of the United States immediately communicated to 
General Scott his intention of sending him to the army to as- 
sume the chief command. General Taylor had been placed 
in command of the troops, then in the presence of the enemy, 
on the recommendation of General Scott, who well knew that 
a proper occasion only was necessary for a development of 
those brilliant qualities of soldiership which have since render- 
ed the name of Taylor so illustrious. 

Not wishing to assume the immediate command of the 
army, and thus snatch from his old companion in arms the 
glory he was about to acquire ; nor willing, at the same time, 
to decline a service corresponding to his rank, he suggested 
to the President, through the Secretary of War, that he be 
permitted during the summer months to collect and drill the 
troops destined for service in Mexico — to collect the materiel 
of the army, and, after the wet season on the Rio Grande had 
passed, to join General Taylor with such additional forces as 
would secure with certainty the objects of the campaign, and 
at the same time respect the well-established military usage, 
"that a junior of distinguished merit ought to be superse- 
ded by a senior in rank, only by the addition of large rein- 
forcements." The spirit in which these suggestions were re- 
ceived by the President and Secretary of War, evinced a want 
of confidence in the plans proposed by General Scott ; and a 
fear lest the political effect of the measure might prove inju- 
rious to the administration, was doubtless the main reason 
which caused the order to be countermanded. 

Smarting under a rebuke so little deserved. General Scott 
addressed a letter to the President, recapitulating the difficul- 
ties that lay in the way of immediate action on the Rio Grande 
— stated anew his plans for prosecuting the war — and concluded 
by reminding the President, that no general, exercising the 



ORDERED TO MEXICO. 129 

difficult function of a distant command, could feel secure with- 
out the support and confidence of his government at home. 
He said, in terms, what General Taylor has so painfully real- 
ized, " that the enemy in front is not half so much to be feared 
as an attack from the rear.'' 

The views of General Scott, set forth in this correspondence, 
have been realized by the events that have since transpired, 
and what seemed at the time to be but vague opinion has now 
become a matter of history. After the correspondence with 
the War Department reached the banks of the Rio Grande, 
officers near General Taylor, and known to be his personal 
friends, addressed letters to the friends of General Scott, ex- 
pressing the kindest feelings on the part of General Taylor, 
and the hope that the General might yet assume the command 
of the army. Being satisfied that his presence on the Rio 
Grande would not be unacceptable to General Taylor, he ad- 
dressed a letter to the Secretary of War, early in September, 
requesting to be assigned to that command, to which request 
he received a rude and flat denial. 

About this time, as subsequently appeared by the statements 
of Senator Benton, the President decided to create the office of 
lieutenant-general, and thus supersede, not only the scar- 
marked hero of Chippewa and Niagara, but also to tear the 
fresh laurels of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma from the 
brow of the gallant Taylor. After this plan had been finally 
arranged, the President sent for General Scott, and confided to 
him the command of the army in Mexico, and gave to him the 
most solemn assurance of his confidence and support. The 
following order was from the Secretary of War : — 



War Department, Washington 
November 23d, 1846. 



•I 



Sir — The President, several days since, communicated in person to you 
his orders to repair to Mexico, to take the command of the forces there 
assembled, and particularly to organize and set on foot an expedition to 
operate on the Gulf coast, if, on arriving at the theatre of action, you shall 
deem it to be practicable. It is not proposed to control your operations by 
definite and positive instructions, but you are left to prosecute them as your 
judgment, under a full view of all the circumstances, shall dictate. The 
work, is before you, and the means provided, or to be provided, for accom- 

6* 



130 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

plishing it, are committed to you, in the full confidence that you will use 
them to the best advantage. 

The objects which it is desirable to obtain have been indicated, and it is 
hoped that you will have the requisite force to accomplish them. 

Of this you must be the judge, when preparations are made, and the time 
for action arrived. Very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 
W. L. Marcy, 
General Winfield Scott. Secretary of War. 

General Scott immediately made all the arrangements to 
carry the plan into full effect. The requisite number of trans- 
ports were to be provided, surf-boats for the landing of the 
n'oops constructed, a train of siege ordnance was to be collected 
and sent forward, and ten new regiments were to be added to 
the line of the army, at the earliest possible moment after the 
meeting of Congress. In a very few days all the preliminary 
arrangements were completed, and General Scott left Wash- 
ington on the 24th November, in the full belief that he enjoyed 
the confidence of the government, and that the conduct of the 
war, under general instructions, had been entirely confided to 
his discretion and judgment. 

Immediately on the opening of Congress the project of cre- 
ating a higher military grade was brought forward, and the 
friends of generals Scott and Taylor saw with alarm that a 
plan was maturing by which they were both to be degraded to 
subordinate stations, and the entire direction of affairs in Mexico 
confided to other and untried hands. The friends of General 
Scott now saw that his apprehensions of an attack " from the 
rear," and which had been frankly expressed in his former 
letters, were indeed but too well founded ; and that notwith- 
standing the assurance given on his departure from Washing, 
ton for the army, of the full and cordial support of the govern- 
ment, the plan of wresting from him the command, at the 
earliest possible day, was then matured, and ready for speedy 
execution. In view of all the circumstances, it is, perhaps, 
not uncharitable to suppose that he was selected for that com- 
mand, for the purpose of stirring up a spirit of rivalry between 
his friends and those of General Taylor, and thus affording a 
plausible pretext for superseding them both. 



SCOTT REACHES THE ARMY. 131 

On the 30th of November General Scott sailed from New- 
York, in the fullest confidence that the government was act- 
ing in good fiuth, and that every means would be furnished 
him for the prosecution of the war. Little did he then sup- 
pose, that before he could reach the theatre of active opera- 
tions the government which had selected and sent him, would 
attempt to degrade him in the eyes of the world, by declaring, 
in effect, that he was unfit for the very place to which he had 
been so recently appointed. 

With the generous confidence of a brave soldier, who had 
often met the enemy in deadly conflict, he received through 
the President the plighted faith of the nation that all was 
right. The President saw him depart in the fulness of this 
confidence, and yet before he reached the army, the proposi- 
tion to supersede him was already there. Yes, the very 
army into which he was to breathe the inspiration of hope — 
which he was to train and prepare for the deadly conflicts 
that awaited them — was informed, in advance, that the presi- 
dent had no confidence in their commander-in-chief. 

General Scott reached the Rio Grande about the first of 
January. Early in the month it became evident that some 
of the principal arrangements for the attack on Vera Cruz 
were not likely to be carried out by the government. The 
bill for raising the ten additional regiments was lost sight of 
by the administration, in the desire to carry their favorite 
project of placing a political partisan at the head of the army ; 
and this bill, which ought to have been passed in the first week 
of the session, was not finally disposed of till a day or two 
before the adjournment. 

What was the condition of things in Mexico at this critical 
period ? 

Santa Anna, with a force of twenty-two thousand men, was 
at San Louis Potosi, a fortified city containing sixty thousand 
inhabitants, and about equally distant from Monterey, Vera 
Cruz, and Mexico. 

General Taylor was in the vicinity of Monterey, in the 
command of a force of about eighteen thousand men, occupy. 
ing the long line from Saltillo to Camargo, and thence to the 



132 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

mouth of the Rio Grande, where General Scott had just ar- 
rived with a small force, for the purpose of attacking Vera 
Cruz as soon as possible. He well knew that the vomiio makes 
its appearance there in the early spring, and that delay would 
be fatal. The transports, stores, and munitions, were begin- 
ning to arrive. What was to be done ? Was the expedition 
against Vera Cruz to be abandoned, or was General Scott to 
go forward and do the best he could under circumstances so 
discouraging ? He adopted the latter alternative. He reviewed 
all the disposable forces within his command, and carefully 
weighed chances and probabilities. He forwarded to General 
Taylor a full plan of his proposed operations. By the capture 
and assassination of Lieutenant Ritchie, the bearer of these 
dispatches, the plans were fully disclosed to Santa Anna, and 
he became apprized that Vera Cruz was to be the main point 
of attack. At Vera Cruz, and its immediate vicinity, there 
were six or seven thousand men, and a much larger number 
could be collected from the adjoining country on a short no- 
tice. Would Santa Anna break up his camp at San Louis 
Potosi, and march on Vera Cruz — fill the city and castle with 
his best troops, and oppose the landing of General Scott with 
a selected army of forty thousand men ? Or, was he likely 
to abandon the town and castle to their fate, thus leaving open 
the road to Mexico, and march with his whole force against 
General Taylor, over a desert of 150 miles, with a certainty 
of having to encounter his enemy either in the defiles of the 
mountains or from behind the impregnable battlements of 
Monterey ? 

Under such circumstances it became the duty of General 
Scott so to divide the forces of the Rio Grande as would be 
most likely to meet any contingency that might arise. He 
collected the regular infantry — for these might be necessary to 
carry with the bayonet the fortified city and castle of Vera 
Cruz. He left within the limits of General Taylor's com- 
mand, about ten thousand volunteers and several companies of 
the best artillery of the regular army. These General Tay- 
lor might have concentrated at Monterey, and General Scott 
suggested to him, in his instructions, to do so, if it became ne- 



c^ 













"^"'^- cl «^^ CASTLE 

Lavajxdera, Sho 




¥F. s^ A ciaior^ 



134 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

cessary. With this comparatively small force, General Tay- 
lor not only maintained all the posts within his command, but 
with the one half of it achieved the memorable victory of 
Buena Vista. 

General Scott assigned twelve thousand men to the expedi- 
tion against Vera Cruz, and had Santa Anna concentrated his 
forces at that point, the disparity of numbers would have been 
much greater than at Buena Vista. These remarks are not 
made for the purpose of comparing the skill, or the conduct, or 
the claims to public gratitude of the two distinguished generals 
who have so well fulfilled every trust reposed in them by their 
country ; but simply to show that in the disposition of the 
forces made by General Scott, he did not take a larger portion 
for his own command than the interests of the service im- 
peratively demanded. 

The troops which were recalled from the upper Rio Grande 
halted for a few days at the mouth of the river, and were then 
taken on board transports, and joined others who had made 
their rendezvous at the island of Lobos, about 125 miles west 
and north of the city of Vera Cruz. The forces being collect- 
ed at this point, the whole armament proceeded to Vera Cruz, 
and the landing of the troops commenced on the 9th of March. 
The landing has been well described by the correspondent of 
the New Orleans Picayune : — 

It would take a page of our paper to give full effect to a description of 
the first landing of our troops on the afternoon of the 9th — a more stirring 
spectacle has probably never been vpitnessed in America. In the first line 
there were no less than seventy heavy surf-boats, containing nearly four 
thousand regulars, and all of them expected to meet an enemy before they 
struck the shore. 

Notwithstanding this, every man was anxious to be first — they plunged 

into the water waist-deep as they reached the shore — the " stars and stripesi" 

were instantly floating — a rush was made for the sand-hills, and amid loud 

shouts they pressed onward. Three long and loud cheers rose from their 

comrades still on board, awaiting to be embarked, and meanwhile the tops 

and every portion of the foreign vessels were crowded with spectators of the 

scene. Not one who witnessed it will ever forget the landing. Why the 

; Mexicans did not oppose us, is a greater mystery than ever, considering 

\ their great advantages at the time, and that they have since opposed every 

\ step of our advance. 



LANDING OF THE ARMY. 135 

From the New Orleans Bulletin of March 27th : — 

The landing of the American army at Vera Cruz has been accomplished 
in a manner that reflects the highest credit on all concerned, and the regu- 
larity, precision, and promptness with which it was effected, has probably 
not been surpassed, if it has been equalled in modern warfare. 

The removal of a large body of troops from numerous transports into boats 
in an open sea — their subsequent disembarkation on the sea-beach, on an 
enemy's coast, through a surf, with all their arms and accoutrements, with- 
out a single error or accident, requires great exertion, skill, and sound judg- 
ment. 

The French expedition against Algiers, in 1830, was said to be the most 
complete armament in every respect that ever left Europe ; it had been pre- 
pared with labor, attention, and experience, and nothing had been omitted 
to ensure success, and particularly in the means and facilities for landing 
the troops. This disembarkation took place in a wide bay, which was 
more favorable than an open beach directly on the ocean, and (as in the 
present instance) without any resistance on the part of the enemy — yet, 
only nine thousand men were landed the first day, and from thirty to forty 
lives were lost by accidents, or upsetting of boats ; whereas, on the present 
occasion, twelve thousand men were landed in one day, without, so far as 
we have heard, the slightest accident or the loss of a single life. 



GENERAL SCOTT S OFFICIAL DISPATCHES. 

Headquarters of the Army, ) 

Camp Washington, before Vera Cruz, > 

March 12th, 1847. S 

Sir: — The colors of the United States were triumphantly planted ashore, 
in full view of this city and its castle, and under the distant fire of both, in 
the afternoon of the 9th inst. Brevet Brigadier-General Worth's brigade of 
regulars led the descent, quickly followed by tiie division of United States 
volunteers under Major-General Patterson, and Brigadier-General Twiggs's 
reserve brigade of regulars. The tliree lines successively landed in sixty- 
seven surf-boats, each boat conducted by a naval officer, and rowed by 
sailors from Commodore Connor's squadron, whose lighter vessels flanked 
the boats so as to be ready to protect the operation by their cross fire. The 
whole army reached the shore in fine style, and without direct opposition, (on 
the beach,) accident, or loss, driving the enemy from the ground to be occu- 
pied. 

The line of investment, according to General Orders, No. 47, was par- 
tially taken up the same night ; but has only been completed to-day, owing 
to the most extraordinary difficulties : 1. The environs of the city, outside of 
the fire of its guns and those of the Castle, are broken into innumerable 
hills of loose sand, from 20 to 250 feet in height, with almost impassable 
forests of chapporal between ; and, 2. Of all our means of land transporta- 
tion—wagons, carts, pack-saddles, horses, and mules, expected to join im 



136 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

from Tarnpico and tlie Brazos, weeks ago — but 15 carts and about 100 
draught-liorses have yet arrived. Three hundred pack-mules are greatly 
needed to relieve the troops in taking subsistence alone, along the line of 
investment of more than five miles, as, at present, our only d^ot is south of 
the city. On the cessation of the present raging Norther, which almost 
stifles the troops with sand, sweeping away hills and creating new, I hope 
to establish a second depot north of the city, which will partially relieve the 
left wing of the Army. 

In extending the line of investment around the city, the troops for three 
days have performed the heaviest labors in getting over the hills and cutting 
through the intervening forests — all under the distant fire of the city and 
Castle, and in the midst of many sharp skirmishes with the enemy. In 
these operations we have lost in killed and wounded several valuable officers 
and men. Among the killed I have to report Brevet Capt. Alburtis, of the 
United States 2d Infantry, much distinguished in the Florida war, and a 
most excellent officer. He fell on the 11th inst. ; and Lieut. Col. Dickinson, 
of the South Carolina Regiment, was badly wounded in a skirmish the day 
before. Two privates have been killed in these operations, and four or five 
wounded. As yet I have not been able to obtain their names. 

As soon as the subsistence of the troops can be assured, and their positions 
are well established, I shall, by an organized movement, cause each brigade 
of regulars and volunteers to send detachments, with supports, to clear its 
front, including sub-bourgs, of the enemy's parties, so as to oblige them to 
confine themselves within the walls of the city. 

I have heretofore reported that but two-sevenths of the siege-tram and 
ammunition had reached me. The remainder is yet unheard of We shall 
commence landing the heavy metal as soon as the storm subsides, and hope 
that the five-sevenths may be up in time. 

The city being invested, would, no doubt, early surrender, but for the 
fear that, if occupied by us, it would immediately be fired upon by the Castle. 
I am not altogether without hope of finding the means of coming to some 
compromise with the city on this subject. 

So far, the principal skirmishing has fallen to the lot of Brigadier-Gene- 
rals Pillow's and Quitman's brigades. Both old and new volunteer regi- 
ments have conducted themselves admirably. Indeed, the whole army is 
full of zeal and confidence, and cannot fail to acquire distinction in the im- 
pending operations. 

To Commodore Connor, the officers and sailors of his squadron, the army 
is indebted for great and unceasing assistance, promptly and cheerfully 
rendered. Their cooperation is the constant theme of our gratitude and ad- 
miration. A handsome detachment of marines, under Capt. Edson, of that 
corps, landed with the first line, and is doing duty with the army. 

March 13. — The enemy, at intervals, continues the fire of heavy ord- 
nance, from the city and Castle, upon our line of investment, both by day 
and night, but with little or no effect. 



scott's official dispatches. 137 

The norther has ceased, which has renewed our communication with the 
Btore-sliips at anchor under Sacrificios. We shall immediately commence 
landing the few pieces of heavy ordnance, with ordnance stores, at hand, 
and hope soon to have the necessary draught-mules to take them to their 
positions. Any farther delay in the arrival of those means of transportation 
will be severely felt in our operations. 

I have the honor to remain, sir, with high respect, your most obedient 
servant, WINFIELD SCOTT. 

Hon. Wm. L. Marcy, Secretary of War. 

Headquarters of the Army, } 

Camp Washington, before Vera Cruz, March 23, 1847. ^ 

Sir: Yesterday, seven of our ten 10-inch mortars being in battery, and the 
labors for planting the remainder of our heavy metal being in progress, I ad- 
dressed, at two o'clock, P. M. a summons to the Governor of Vera Cruz, and 
within the two hours limited by the bearer of the flag, received the Governor's 
answer. Copies of the two papers (marked respectively A and B) are here- 
with enclosed. 

It will be perceived that the Governor, who, it turns out, is the Com- 
mander of both places, chose, against the plain terms of the summons, to 
suppose me to have demanded the surrender of the castle and of the city ; 
when in fact, from the non-arrival of our heavy metal — principally mortars — 
I was in no condition to threaten the former. 

On the return of the flag, with that reply, I at once ordered the seven 
mortars, in battery, to open upon the city. In a short time the smaller 
vessels of Commodore Perry's squadron — two steamers and five schooners — 
according to previous arrangement with him, approached the city within 
about a mile and an eighth, whence, being partially covered from the 
castle — an essential condition to their safety — they also opened a brisk fire 
upon the city. This has been continued uninterruptedly by the mortars, 
and only with a few intermissions, by the vessels, up to 9 o'clock this morn- 
ing, when the Commodore, very properly, called them off from a position too 
daringly assumed. 

Our three remaining mortars are now (12 o'clock, A. M.) in battery, and 
the whole ten in activity. To-morrow early, if the city should continue 
obstinate, batteries Nos. 4 and 5 will be ready to add their fire. No. 4, con- 
sisting of four 24-pounders and two 8-inch Paixhan guns, and No. 5 (naval 
battery) of three 32-pounders and three 8-inch Paixhans — the guns, officers, 
and sailors, landed from the squadron — our friends of the navy being unre- 
mitting in their zealous co-operation, in every mode and form. 

So far, we know that our fire upon the city has been highly effective, 
particularly from the batteries of 10-inch mortars, planted at about 800 yards 
from the city. Including the preparation and defence of the batteries, from 
the beginning — now many days — and notwithstanding the heavy fire of the 
enemy, from city and castle, we have only had four or five men wounded 



138 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

and one officer and one man killed, in or near the trendies. That officer 
was Captain John R. Vinton, of the United States third artillery, one of the 
.nost talented, accomplished, and effective members of the army, and whc 
was highly distinguished in the brilliant operations at Monterey. He fell 
last evening in the trenches, where he was on duty as field and commanding 
officer, universally regretted. I have just attended his honored remams to a 
soldier's grave — in full view of the enemy and within reach of his guns. 

Thirteen of the long-needed mortars — leaving twenty-seven, besides heavy 
guns, behind — have arrived, and two of them landed. A heavy norther 
then set in (at meridian) that stopped that operation, and also the landing 
of shells. Hence the fire of our mortar batteries has been slackened, since 
two o'clock to-day, and cannot be reinvigorated until we shall again have a 
smooth sea. In the mean time I shall leave this report open for journalizing 
events that may occur up to the departure of the steam ship-of-war, the 
Princeton, with Com. Connor, who, I learn, expects to leave the anchorage 
off" Sacrificios, for the United States, the 25th inst. 

March 24. — The storm having subsided in the night, we commenced this 
forenoon, as soon as the sea became a little smooth, to land shot, shells, and 
mortars. 

The naval battery No. 5, was opened with great activity, under Capt 
Auliek, the second in rank of the squadron, at about 10 A. M. His fire 
was continued to 2 o'clock, P. M., a little before he was relieved by Capt. 
Mayo, who landed with a fresh supply of ammunition, Capt. A. having 
exhausted the supply he had brought with him. He lost four sailors, killed, 
and had one officer, Lieut. Baldwin, slightly hurt. 

The mortar batteries, Nos. 1, 2, and 3, have fired but languidly during 
the day for want of shells, which are now going out from the beach. 

The two reports of Col. Bankhead, chief of artillery, both of this date, 
copies of which I enclose, give the incidents of those three batteries. 

Battery No. 4, which will mount four 24-pounders and two 8-inch Paix- 
han guns, has been much delayed in the hands of the indefatigable engineers 
by the norther that filled np the work with sand nearly as fast as it could 
be opened by the half-blinded laborers. It will, however, doubtless be in full 
activity early to-morrow morning-. 

March 25. — The Princeton being about to start for Philadelphia, I have 
but a moment to continue this report. 

All the batteries, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, are in awful activity this morning 
The eiFect is, no doubt, very great, and I think the city cannot hold out 
beyond to-day. To-morrow morning many of the new mortara will be iu a 
position to add their fire, when, or after the delay of some twelve hours, if 
no proposition to surrender should be received, I shall organize parties for 
carrying the city by assault. So far the defence has been spirited and 
obstinate. 

I enclose a copy of a memorial received last night signed by the Consuls 
of Great Britain, France, Spain and Prussia, within Vera Cruz, asking me 



140 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

to grant a truce to enable the neutrals, together with Mexican women and 
children, to withdraw from the scene of havoc about them. I shall reply, 
the moment that an opportunity may be taken, to say — 1. That a truce can 
only be granted on the application of Gov. Morales, with a view to surren- 
der. 2. That in sending safeguards to the different Consuls, beginning as 
far back as the 13th iust., I distinctly admonished them — particularly the 
French and Spanish Consuls — and of course, through the two, the other 
Consuls, of the dangers that have followed. 3. That although at that date I 
had already refused to allow any person whatsoever to pass the line of in- 
vestment either way, yet the blockade had been left open to the Consuls 
and other neutrals to pass out to their respective ships of war up to the 22d 
instant ; and 4. I shall enclose to the memorialists a copy of my summons 
to the Governor, to show that I had fully considered the impending hard- 
ships and distresses of the place, including those of women and children, 
before one gun had been fired in that direction. The intercourse between 
the neutral ships of war and the city was stopped at the last-mentioned date 
by Commodore Perry, with my concurrence, which I placed on the ground 
that that intercourse could not fail to give to the enemy moral aid and 
comfort. 

It will be seen from the memorial, that our batteries have already had a 
terrible effect on the city, (also known through other sources,) and hence 
the inference that a surrender must soon be proposed. In haste, 

I have the honor to remain, sir, with respect, your most obedient servant,, 

WINFIELD SCOTT. 

Hon. Wm. L. Marcv, Secretary of War. 

Head-Quarters of the Army, ) 

Vera Cruz, March 29, 1847. \ 

Sir — The flag of the United States of America floats triumphantly over 
the walls of this city and the castle of San Juan d'Ulloa. 

Our troops have garrisoned both since 10 o'clock : it is now noon. Brig 
Gen. Worth is in command of the two places. 

Articles of capitulation were signed and exchanged at a late hour night 
before last. I enclose a copy of the document. 

I have heretofore reported the principal incidents of the siege up to the 
25th instant. Nothing of striking interest occurred till early in the morning 
of the next day, when I received overtures from General Landero, on whom 
General Morales had devolved the principal command. A terrible storm of 
wind and sand made it difficult to communicate with the city, and impossi- 
ble to refer to Commodore Perry. I was obliged to entertain the proposition 
alone, or to continue the fire upon a place that had shown a disposition to 
surrender ; for the loss of a day, or perhaps several, could not be permitted. 
The accompanying papers will show the proceedings and results. 

Yesterday, after the norther had abated, and the commissioners appointed 
by me early the morning before had again met those appointed by General 
Landero, Commodore Perry sent iishore his second in command. Captain 



SCOTT S OFFICIAL DISPATCHES. 141 

Aulick, as a commissioner on the part of the navy. Althoujrh not included 
in my specific arrangement made with the Mexican commander, I did not 
hesitate, with proper courtesy, to desire that Captain Anlick* might be duly 
introduced and allowed to participate in the discussions and acts of the com- 
missioners who had been reciprocally accredited. Hence the preamble to 
his signature. The original American commissioners were, Brevet Briga- 
dier-General Worth, Brigadier-General Pillow, and Colonel Totton. Four 
more able or judicious officers could not have been desired. 

I have to add but -little more. The remaining details of the siege ; the 
able co-operation of the United States squadron, successively under the 
command of Commodores Connor and Perry ; the admirable conduct of the 
whole army, regulars and volunteers — I should be happy to dwell upon as 
they deserve ; but the steamer Princeton, with Commodore Connor on 
board, is under way, and I have commenced organizing an advance into 
the interior. This may be delayed a few days, waiting tiie arrival of addi- 
tional means of transportation. In the mean time, a joint operation, by 
land and water, will be made upon Aivarado. No lateral expedition, how- 
ever, shall interfere with the grand movement towards the capital. 

In consideration of the great services of Col. Totten, in the siege that has 
just terminated most successfully, and the importance of his presence at 
Washington, as the head of the engineer bureau, I intrust this dispatch 
to his personal care, and beg to commend him to the very favorable consid- 
eration of the department. 

I have the honor to remain, sir, with high respect, your most obedient 
servant, WINFIELD SCOTT. 

Hon. W. L. Marcy, Secretary of War. 

The following were the terms of capitulation finally agreed upon : — 
Generals W. J. Worth and G. J. Pillow, and Col. J. G. Totten, chief 
engineer, on the part of Major-general Scott, general-in-chief of the armies 
of the United States ; and Col. Jose Gutierrez de Villanueva, Lieut. Colonel 
of the Engineers, Manuel Robles, and Col. Pedra de Herrera, commissioners 
appointed by General of Brigade Don Jose Juan Landero, commanding in 
chief. Vera Cruz, the Castle of San Juan d'Ulloa and their dependencies — 
for the surrender to the arms of the United States of the said forts, with their 
armaments, munitions of war, garrisons, and arms. 

1. The whole garrison, or garrisons, to be surrendered to the arms of the 
United States, as prisoners of war, the 29th inst., at 10 o'clock, A M. ; the 
garrisons to be permitted to march out with all the honors of war, and to lay 
down their arms to such officers as may be appointed by the general-in-chief 
of the United States armies, and at a point to be agreed upon by the com- 
missioners. 

2. Mexican officers shall preserve their arms and private effects, including 
horse and horse furniture, and to be allowed, regular and irregular officers 
and also to rank and file, five days to retire to their respective homes, on 
parole, as hereinafter prescribed. 



J 42 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

3.' Coincident with the surrender, as stipulated in article one, the Mexican 
flags of the various forts and stations shall be struck, saluted by their own 
batteries ; and, immediately thereafter, forts Santiago and Conception and 
the castle of San Juan d'Ulloa, occupied by the forces' of the United 
States. 

4. The rank and file of the regular portion of the prisoners to be disposed 
of, after surrender and parole, as their general-in-chief may desire, and the 
irregular to be permitted to return to their homes. The officers, in respect 
to all arms and descriptions of force, giving the usual parole, that the said 
rank and file, as well as themselves, shall not serve again until duly ex- 
changed. 

5. All the materiel of war, and all public property of every description 
found in the city, the Castle of San Juan d'Ulloa and their dependencies, to 
belong to tlio United States ; but the armament of the same (not injured or 
destroyed in the further prosecution of the actual war) may be considered 
as liable to be restored to Me,vico by a definitive treaty of peace. 

6. The sick and wounded Mexicans to be allowed to remain in the city, 
with such medical officers of the army as may be necessary to their care and 
treatment. 

7. Absolute protection is solemnly guarantied to persons in the city, and 
property, and it is clearly understood that no private building or property is 
to be taken or used by the forces of the United States, without previous 
arrangement with the owners, and for a fair equivalent. 

8. Absolute freedom of religious worship and ceremonies is solemnly 
guarantied. 

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
From the New York Commercial Advertiser. 

Fall of Vera Cruz and the Castle. — We can add nothing in the 
shape of comment on the important intelligence from the South, supplied by 
the telegraph this morning, to enhance either its magnitude or the reader's 
appreciation of the facts. The telegraphic dispatch tells the story, though 
briefly, with admirable distinctness and force of expression. 

We feel at liberty, however, to present a few remarks in reference to the 
means and manner of accomplishing the feat which must, as we all hope 
and believe, have so important an influence in hastening the termination of 
the war. By the defeat of Buena Vista and the capture of Vera Cruz, with 
its formidable castle, the defensive or resisting strength of Mexico must be 
essentially broken ; nothing can remain to that distracted and unfortunate 
republic — or whatever else it may be called— except a desultory and little 
efficient system of guerilla warfare, means of counteracting which it will 
not be difficult to provide, which can be sustained by no rational hope of 
eventual success, and the punishment of which, as recent and deplorable 
events have proved, is almost certain to be prompt and dreadful. The 
capture of Vera Cruz and the castle can scarcely fail to prove the last great 
incident of the war. 



OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 143 

Considering this, it is allowable and even proper to bestow some reflection 
on the manner in which the work has bet-n done ; particularly with refer- 
ence to some idle sarcasms that have been launched, here and there, by 
journals, it is true, of uo very exalted standing, against the "scientific" 
method, as it has been sneeringly called, of Gen. Scott's demonstration 
upon the doomed city. But the vvords have scarcely gone forth when 
startling proof is set before us that science in war is not a less potent instru- 
ment than headlong valor or the most indomitable constancy. What seemed 
to these unskilled critics a mere waste of tinie turns out to have been a 
saving, not only of time but of human life and suffering in no stinted meas- 
ure. While they were sarcastically hinting at the forma! movements of 
the commander, these formal movements, dictated by thorough knowledge 
of means and ends, were gradually but surely involving the strong place in 
a net of inevitable destruction ; strange as it may seem to these cavillers, 
operations carried on apparently beyond striking distance and utterly incapa- 
ble of producing any important result, were in fact reducing the city more 
surely and effectually than it could have been done by a desperate assault 
of thousands. To use the hackneyed simile, the defences and defenders of 
Vera Cruz were like a beast enveloped in the crushing folds of an enormous 
serpent — as powerless for either resistance or escape. 

Fro7ii the Charleston Mercury. 
We understand that General Scott delayed opening his guns upon the 
city for eight hours, to give the women and children an opportunity of 
withdrawing, assuring them of protection for themselves and whatever prop 
erty they might choose to carry with them. Not an individual embraced 
this offer, and the subsequent destruction of women and children during the 
bombardment weis a source of the most painful regret to the General and 
the army. 

The city and castle surrendered unconditionally. There have been cap- 
tured between 600 and 700 cannon, of various calibres, about 10,000 stand 
of arms, and a considerable amount of military stores. There was a great 
abundance of provisions and water in the city, but scarcely any in the 
castle. 

During the bombardment, our army had thrown the following number 
and size shot : 

Army Battery. 

3000 ten-inch shells, 991bs. each. 

500 round shot, 251bs. each. 

200 eight-inch howitzer shells, 681bs. each. 

General Patterson's Navy Battery. 

1000 Paixhan shot, 681bs. each. 

800 round shot, 321bs. each. 

Musquitn Fleet, Capt. Tatnall. 
1200 shot and shell, averaging, ------ 621bs. each 

Making in all G,700 shot and shell, weighing 463,600 lbs. 



144 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 



CONCLUSION. CHARACTER OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

About the 20th of November, General Scott received the 
ordejs of the President to assume the command of the army in 
Mexico, and under full powers and very general instructions, 
to prosecute the war. He immediately took the necessary 
steps for conducting the expedition against Vera Cruz. In 
the five days which intervened after the receipt of the order 
and before leaving Washington, he made all the preliminary 
arrangements. The surf-boats for landing the troops were all 
ordered — the necessary cannon, mortars, and ordnance stores 
were designated — the commissary-general was required to 
furnish the necessary supplies, and the quartermaster's depart- 
ment the transports for the conveyance of the troops. All the 
arrangements emanated from the general-in-chief, and hence 
their entire correspondence with each other. Five days more 
were spent in New York in completing what had been begun 
at Washington, and on the 30th of November General Scott 
sailed for New Orleans. He preferred the voyage by sea to 
the land route, as it afforded him the opportunity of maturing 
his plans, framing his orders, and studying carefully all the 
different elements which entered into the difficult problem 
he was about to solve. 

He reached Vera Cruz within three days of the time named 
before leaving New York, and the glorious victory which he 
achieved has added another brilliant leaf to his already illus- 
trious history. The ample preparations which he made, in 
order to save the lives of his soldiers, and to ensure success 
with the least expenditure of numan life, were but the matured 
fruits of justice and humanity. 

In all the scenes of his life General Scott has been consistent 
with duty and himself — a wari'ior in war and a pacificator in 
peace. His qualifications for public service are various. 
Bred to the " science rather than the practice of the law," 
he has ever been himself obedient to its stern requirements, 
and in his administi'ation of it, has tempered justice with mercy. 
The claims of the private soldier, and those of the officer high- 
est in rank, have ever received from him the same patient at- 
tention. The elements of his character are integrity, justice, 
judgment, and firmness. These are adorned by the graces of 
an ardent and generous spirit, and sustained by an indomitable 
moral courage. 



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VIEW OF GENERAL SCOTT'S RESIDENCE, 

KLIZABETIITOWN, N. J. 



MANSFIELD'S LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

12iM0. 368 Pages. 

The Life of General Scott, by Edward D. Mansfield, pub- 
lished about a year since, has, within that short period, passed 
tlirough several editions, and taken its place among the permanent 
histories'of the country. It is a full and faithful narrative of the 
important events with which the name and services of Gen. Scott 
have been connected. It contains numerous and ample references 
to all the sources and documents from wliich the facts of the history 
are drawn ; and the reader is referred to this work as a volume of 
standard authority. 



ILLUSTRATED LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

The incidents narrated in this work have been tnainly taken from 
"Mansfield's Life of Scott." The account of the recent operations 
in Mexico, — of the organization and movements of the army on Vera 
Cruz, — of the bombardmetit and cajHure of the city and castle, has 
been compiled from the best sources of information accessible to the 
public, and is beli^v^g^a be(Mpr&ct Ukevwyy important particular. 



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